Academy-Award nominated screenwriter
Jon Spaihts has been tapped to pen the adaptation of popular videogame
"Gears of War" for Netlix. The writer is best known for co-writing
"Dune" and
"Dune: Part Two", as well as
"Doctor Strange" and
"Prometheus". Spaihts was initially tapped as showrunner for HBO Max's
"Dune: The Sisterhood", but stepped down to focus on
"Dune: Part Two".
Spaihts released the following statement:
"“’Gears of War’ is one of the all-time great action games, with vivid characters, a beautifully designed world, and a combat system that drives home the lethality of war and the importance of standing by your squadmates. It wants to be cinema, and I’m thrilled to have the chance to help that happen".
Netflix is working on this adaptation alongside video game developer The Coalition, who took the reins of the
"Gears of War" franchise after Microsoft acquired the rights to the series from original creator Epic Games. The Coalition had this to say:
"We’re thrilled to partner with Jon and the Netflix team to bring ‘Gears of War’ to life. Jon is a master storyteller with a talent for creating epic, science-fiction universes, and he truly loves ‘Gears of War.’ We couldn’t ask for a better partner to honor our franchise and deliver an authentic story to our fans."
There have been multiple attempts throughout the years to bring
"Gears of War" to the big screen. New Line Cinema briefly had the rights to a film adaptation in 2007, and then
Scott Stuber, now head of original films at Netflix, came on as a producer in 2013 with Epic Games. Universal then hired
F. Scott Frazier to write an adaptation in 2018, but nothing came of it.
