Netflix and Legendary's live-action Gundam just added another heavy hitter: Jason Clarke is climbing into the cockpit. The project has been kicking around since 2021, and this is the latest sign it is actually moving.
The new recruit
Clarke, fresh off Oppenheimer, is a smart fit for a giant-robot war story. He has already logged time in sci-fi action with Death Race (2008), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), and Terminator Genisys (2015). Plot details and character breakdowns are still sealed up, but the cast already had two leads in Noah Centineo (Black Adam) and Sydney Sweeney (Madame Web). Good get all around.
Who is building this thing
- Writer-director: Jim Mickle, the Sweet Tooth showrunner steering the script and the shoot
- Previously attached: Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Kong: Skull Island) had the reins earlier in development
- Producers: Jim Mickle and Linda Moran via their Nightshade banner, plus Noah Centineo and Enzo Marc
- Companies: Co-produced by Legendary Entertainment and Bandai Namco Filmworks; headed to Netflix
Why Gundam is a big swing
Gundam launched in 1979 with the TV series Mobile Suit Gundam, created by Hajime Yatate and Yoshiyuki Tomino. Set in the Universal Century, it follows humanity as it expands into space colonies and straps gifted (and not-so-gifted) pilots into towering mobile suits to settle conflicts the loud way. The franchise is a juggernaut for Sunrise, blowing out across anime, manga, animated features, video games, plastic model kits, toys, novels, and pretty much every other corner of pop culture merchandise. Decades later, it still anchors Bandai Namco's earnings. That is the kind of library title you do not take lightly.
With Clarke on board and Mickle at the controls, the pieces are lining up. Now we wait to see which era and which suit they roll out first.