Duncan Jones is making a Rogue Trooper movie
That's no Moon!
Here's a surprisingly fine thing on an otherwise somewhat bleak Sunday: Duncan Jones (director of Moon) is making a Rogue Trooper movie. What's a rogue trooper, you ask? I mean, it's all in the name. He's gone rogue. He's a trooper. He's blue and all of his dead friends live inside of his equipment and he does battle on a ravaged planet called Nu-Earth where poison gas has-- okay, sure. Not everything is inherently included in the name.
Rogue Trooper is a 2000 AD comics series created by Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons, and in 2006, Rebellion made a pretty direct game adaptation, that was given an upgraded treatment earlier this year in the form of Rogue Trooper Redux.
Alec summed up the 2006 Rogue Trooper better than I ever could, calling it the world's finest 7/10 game, and generally showing how it really didn't require a redo but it fixes up some mechanics nicely. I also enjoy reading Alice write up nanoforge-ish technological leaps or whatever it is that explains why your dead ghost friend in your backpack can change the physical properties of ammunition.
Secondary to all of this, I was wondering why on Nu-Earth you'd want to bring the Rogue character back into the spotlight in 2018. Then Alice informed me that 2000 AD is a much bigger to-do across the pond then it is in the states and now I feel like an uncultured heathen. Anyhow, a Duncan Jones movie is reason enough for us all to celebrate.
Check out Jones's full tweet-tease and associated video below:
Okay, that's a very Duncan Jones set of choices to make. The video is just packed with pretty in your face references to the series, and includes a voice-over reminiscent of the source material. If none of that was enough, Jones pulls off a hat to reveal Rogue's trademark hairstyle. It ends with closing text that taunts the viewer if they haven't put all the clues together yet, which feels a bit much. Not everyone knows 2000 AD comics-slash-redone 2006 video game adaptations of 2000 AD comics like the back of their blue hand. Thankfully, there's also a reference to fellow 2000 AD property Dredd and how it doesn't have a sequel yet. Make that sequel, please and thank you.
You can grab a copy of Rogue Trooper Redux on Steam, or if you'd prefer, the original 2006 release is much cheaper. There is no release date range for the film listed at this time.