Thanks in large part to his horror films like The Descent and Dog Soldiers, fans were immensely excited to see director Neil Marshall‘s take on Hellboy in 2019, though the behind-the-scenes strife was such a setback for the film, Marshall didn’t even attend its world premiere, with a number of reports to emerge in the years since its release about creative conflicts with the film. Despite that experience likely turning him off from a big-budget comic book movie, the filmmaker confirmed that he would be willing to return to that world if he could make a Rogue Trooper movie inspired by the character’s adventures in 2000AD. Marshall’s latest film, The Reckoning, hits Shudder on May 14th.
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“I always wanted to do a movie of Rogue Trooper,” Marshall confirmed with ComicBook.com. “I always thought that would be pretty cool. Because 2000AD was pretty much the only kind of comic that I read as a kid, and obviously Judge Dredd came from that. But there were also a lot of other really cool characters and comic strips in that, and Rogue Trooper was my favorite, because the future warfare thing was just of interest to me, for sure.”
The character was originally created by Gerry Finley-Day and Alan Moore collaborator Dave Gibbons back in 1981, with the concept focusing on a blue-skinned, blue-haired, genetically engineered super-soldier who aims to eradicate his foe, the Traitor General.
While Marshall might be interested in the character, he’s not the only one, as Moon and Warcraft director Duncan Jones has also been working on a Rogue Trooper adaptation.
“We’re in the exciting bit right now of concept-arting-out some of the elements of the script,” Jones shared with Entertainment Weekly back in 2019. “The script is really looking pretty good now. It’s getting to the point where we’re going to have to start casting and making the thing. It really does look very good.”
He added, “Hopefully, [we’ve] learnt the lessons from previous 2000AD films, where they were either not loyal to what the original comic was, or, in Dredd‘s case, just done at slightly too big a budget to actually be successful, even though the film was critically well-received. I think we’ve really kind of nailed this one. So, it looks good. It looks good that we’ll get to make it and I think people are going to really like it.”
As we wait for updates on a potential Rogue Trooper movie, fans can check out Marshall’s The Reckoning on Shudder on May 14th.
Would you like to see Marshall adapt the concept? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!
