Rogue Trooper: First Look at Warcraft Director’s Animated Sci-Fi Comic Book Movie Is Stunning

After years of development, we finally have our first look at the film adaptation of Rogue Trooper, and they’re going to make a lot of fans happy. The British sci-fi adventure series comes to the big screen in a unique animated medium, as the movie was created using Unreal Engine 5. This gives it a detailed CGI appearance that almost looks like live-action in some shots, but is freed from the interactive needs of a video game. The teaser images were published on Tuesday by Empire Magazine, and while the characters and settings should be familiar to fans, they’ve never been depicted quite like this.

Rogue Trooper is a comic strip in the British magazine 2000 AD. The strip has been in publication since 1989, following a “Genetic Infantryman” named Rogue who carries three “uploaded minds” within his military equipment. They traverse the futuristic landscape of Nu-Earth, hunting for a treacherous general who betrayed them in the past. This film adaptation was directed by Duncan Jones, the British filmmaker known for the 2016 Warcraft movie, so the unique animation style suits his experience.

Unreal Engine 5 is a game engine used to create many of the most popular video games, and it has found some use in Hollywood in recent years. Effects made in part with Unreal Engine were used in The Mandalorian, Westworld, and Fallout, and are rarely distinguishable from other special effects. However, those who play cutting-edge video games will likely recognize the software’s style in these shots from Rogue Trooper.

Along with these images comes the news that principal photography for Rogue Trooper is finished. Actor Aneurin Barnard provided the voice for the titular character, and we also get a look at the characters played by Jemaine Clement and Matt Berry, along with the motion capture images they were derived from. Other cast members include Hayley Atwell, Jack Lowden, Daryl McCormack, Reece Shearsmith, Diane Morgan, Alice Lowe, Asa Butterfield, and Sean Bean.

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Jones’s last big attempt at fusing video games and movies, Warcraft, fell just short of breaking even at the box office and was generally panned by critics. It has a 29% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with many critics saying they couldn’t get immersed in the movie’s animation style or worldbuilding. Still, at the time, it was the highest-grossing video game adaptation ever made, and it may be responsible for the genre’s continued growth. (The Super Mario Bros. Movie has since surpassed Warcraft at the box office to become the highest-grossing video game movie ever.)

With Rogue Trooper, Jones has a chance to test the efficacy of this animation style with a proven story that many fans are eager to see on screen. Rogue Trooper has no release date yet. The film is reportedly in post-production.