The Rogue Trooper Film That Stayed in the Tube

[JOE SOAP]

So it might not have been Grant Morrison who was developing a Rogue Trooper film with Sam Worthington's production company but it was definitely Gary Whitta (with concept art by Chris Weston):





Okay so tell me about ROGUE TROOPER, why is that adaptation so attractive to you?


As a Brit I naturally grew up reading 2000AD and the two characters I always loved the most were Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper. Dredd's obviously had a couple of bites of the cinematic apple, but it's always bugged me that Rogue never has. He's such a great character and it's such a great world, it strikes me as one of those "why isn't this a movie yet?" titles. Sam Worthington's production company had the rights a year or so back and I developed it with them as a feature. Chris Weston, the extremely talented comic artist who was also storyboard artist on The Book of Eli, did some amazing concept work on it. We took it out, pitching it to studios, and there was some interest but it never quite came together. The rights have since reverted but I would love to take another crack at getting it set up and made if the opportunity were to arise. I think we had a great story developed, and all it really needs is the right director. Maybe now that Dave Gibbons, who co-created the comic, has had a big hit with Kingsman: The Secret Service?

[JOE SOAP]

https://twitter.com/garywhitta/status/556203189817856000

[COMMANDO FORCES]

That's all rather interesting!

[Frank]

At least I got my new favourite Rogue Trooper image out of their failed film project. If that script is floating about Hollywood, someone's going to pinch the betrayal/personal revenge mission aspect of Rogue's founding myth to finally sort the structural and character motivation problems they've been having with their Halo/Gears of War/Warhammer 40K/Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare screenplays.

However pish and desultory most Rogue Trooper stories turn out to be, it was always an incredibly strong core concept.