Suit up and get ready to fight: A live-action movie adaptation of the popular anime series Gundam is booting up at Netflix. As Variety reports, Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Kong: Skull Island) will direct.
Scriptwriting duties will be handled by Brian K. Vaughn, the famed comic book writer behind Y: The Last Man. Story details haven’t been announced, but Vaughan will have no shortage of source material. Yoshiyuki Tomino launched the TV series Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979, and while the original run was cancelled due to lack of interest, it’s become a defining landmark in the mecha anime genre. Since then, it’s spawned dozens of sequel series, mangas, and one of the most popular toy lines in the history of the action figures.
While Vogt-Roberts and Vaughn will have plenty of timelines and alternate universes to choose from, most of the Gundam lore is set in the Universal Century, where human colonies in space fight for independence from the Earth Federation. In this space opera setting, the principle weapon of war is the Gundam, realistic (by anime standards) robot suit equipped with massive guns as well as gigantic swords for when ammunition runs out.
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While no start date has been set, Variety hears that Gundam is likely to begin before Vogt-Roberts other recently announced project: an adaptation of Metal Gear Solid starring Oscar Isaac. Vaughan also has a collaboration with Isaac in the works — a sci-fi series entitled The Great Machine.
In a roundabout way, fans may have already gotten their first-look at what a live-action Gundam suit looks like. Back in the fall, the amusement center Gundam Factory Yokohama unveiled a six-story, fully articulated, moving mecha suit dubbed the RX-78F00.
