The Borderlands movie adaptation has been in development for some time. But its future may be uncertain now that a key writer has left the project.
With the recent success of video games making it to live-action, creating a faithful Borderlands adaptation seemed wise. The compelling sci-fi adventure followed criminal Lilith, who journeyed to her home world of Pandora to find a missing girl. With a cast of colorful characters and a compelling story, Borderlands is just one of many video games that would translate well to the big screen. Big names such as Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis have entered the mix in various roles, making the picture even more high profile.
The Borderlands movie did have impressive figures behind the scenes at one point and a connection to a premium video game adaptation, The Last of Us. Craig Mazin -- who also penned the acclaimed HBO series Chernobyl – joined tattooed creator Neil Druckmann in adapting the anticipated Last of Us television series. But according to recent reports, Mazin's involvement in the Borderlands movie is now a thing of the past. The auteur was co-writing the film with director Eli Roth, but the Writers Guild website confirms Mazin has elected to take his name off the upcoming feature and use the pseudonym, Joe Crombie. This likely means Mazin is choosing to omit his name from the Borderlands movie, similar to how filmmakers would be credited as Alan Smithee when they longer wanted their name connected to a project.
This news comes in addition to a flurry of unfortunate circumstances. Borderlands was filmed as early as 2021 but hasn't seen the light of day. The main issue holding up the film is reshoots under a new director. Roth is no longer in the director’s chair for the reshoots, even though he would be the perfect choice to direct a Borderlands movie, having been replaced by Tim Miller. Other writers have joined the project to tinker with the script, including Euphoria's Sam Levinson.
If the influx of new writers wasn’t enough cause for concern, Mazin's departure from the project is. The writer-director has a brand. Chornobyl was a harrowing five-episode journey and allowed him to clinch the job for The Last of Us. Even though the zombie-influenced series had a lot of expectations surrounding it, Mazin still pulled off an impressive feat of television. The series was a gift to not just game lovers but lovers of cinema in general. Attaching his name to a sinking ship is not the best thing for his career, especially when he has The Last of Us season 2 to look forward to. If Borderlands is becoming the train wreck it appears to be, the best thing is to cut losses and run.
Borderlands is in post-production.
Source: Writers Guild of America West