Fans of the cosmic video game Rogue Trooper might be really excited to know that Duncan Jones is working on an animated feature adaptation. The filmmaker is known for coming out with some of the best sci-fi movies in recent memory with 2009’s Moon and Source Code from 2011, and he is clearly a video game fan, having helmed 2016’s Warcraft, so he seems like the perfect choice for the job. To find out what else there is to know about this upcoming sci-fi movie, continue reading our following guide to Rogue Trooper.
What Is The Rogue Trooper Release Date?
At the moment, no release date for Rogue Trooper has been announced, but we do think a spot on our upcoming 2024 movie schedule is unlikely at this point. Hopefully, we will be able to call it an upcoming 2025 movie, but only time will tell.
The Rogue Trooper Voice Cast
Despite the relative obscurity of its source material, the Rogue Trooper voice cast boasts an impressive ensemble of A-list talent. Take a look at the actors lending their voices to the out-of-this-world adventure, all of whom have currently undisclosed roles except for the one portraying the title hero.
Aneurin Barnard (Rogue Trooper)
Duncan Jones’ Rogue Trooper is being voiced by Aneurin Barnard, who has previously faced combat as a member of Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk cast in 2017, as well as otherworldly phenomena as part of Netflix’s 1899 cast and in a couple of episodes of Doctor Who.
The Welsh actor is also known for several period pieces, such as the 2015 crime biopic Legend with fellow Dunkirk star Tom Hardy, and literary adaptations like 2019’s The Goldfinch and The Personal History of David Copperfield from the following year.
Hayley Atwell
Also lending her voice to the Rogue Trooper voice cast is Hayley Atwell, who is no stranger to dealing with otherworldly phenomena, having played Peggy Carter in the Marvel movies, starred in AMC’s remake of the classic sci-fi TV series, The Prisoner, and led one of the best Black Mirror episodes, “Be Right Back.” The English actor also, more recently, joined the Mission: Impossible movies as Grace in Dead Reckoning.
Jack Lowden
Barnard’s Dunkirk and War & Peace co-star Jack Lowden can also say he has starred opposite Tom Hardy in a crime biopic, namely Capone, and an adaptation of David Copperfield for Audible. The Scottish actor has also played a spy in the Apple TV+ original TV show, Slow Horses, for which he received a nomination at the 76th Emmys.
Sean Bean
We cannot help but feel that Sean Bean’s Rogue Trooper character might be doomed to suffer a bitter fate, given how many of his most famous roles — such as Boromir in the Lord of the Rings movies and Ned Stark from the Game of Thrones cast — do not survive for very long. Then again, he lived through his last few space movies, Jupiter Ascending and The Martian, and he also made it to the Possessor ending, despite being the main assassin’s target in Brandon Cronenberg’s 2020 thriller.
Daryl McCormack
Irish actor Daryl McCormack is yet another cast member who has a credit in common with Barnard, namely Netflix’s Peaky Blinders, on which he recurred as Isaiah Jesus. He is better known for playing the title role of one of the best movies on Hulu, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, and more recently appeared in Twisters (which experienced a real tornado on set) in a brief, but memorable part.
Reece Shearsmith
Two-time BAFTA winner Reece Shearsmith has also been on Doctor Who, but has encountered extra-terrestrials on many other occasions — such as on Apple TV+’s Foundation, on Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, and in 2005’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy alongside his fellow members of surreal British comedy troupe, The League of Gentlemen. Some audiences may also recognize him for his brief appearance in horror comedy classic Shaun of the Dead and as Professor Ware in Saltburn.
Jemaine Clement
Best known as one-half of New Zealand-based folk parody duo, Flight of the Conchords, Jemaine Clement has shared the screen with aliens (in Avatar: The Way of Water) and also played one of the Men in Black movies’ scariest aliens, Boris the Animal. He is also known for his many collaborations with Taika Waititi, such as the hilarious, mockumentary-style vampire movie, What We Do in the Shadows.
Matt Berry
Speaking of What We Do in the Shadows, one of the stars of FX’s hilarious spin-off (and one of the best horror TV shows on Hulu), Matt Berry, is also part of the Rogue Trooper cast. The IT Crowd actor has previously lent his instantly recognizable voice to sci-fi titles like Disney+’s Star Wars Universe TV show The Book of Boba Fett and Amazon Prime’s Fallout, and also has a role in The Wild Robot — an animated sci-fi film coming out in September 2024.
Diane Morgan
British comedian Diane Morgan is probably best known as Philomena Cunk — a TV reporter she has played in various titles, such as Netflix’s Cunk on Earth. She also voiced Gryphon in Netflix’s The Sandman cast and plays another British TV character named Mandy on her self-titled sitcom.
Alice Lowe
One of Alice’s Lowe’s earliest acting gigs was alongside Matt Berry on the sci-fi horror parody, Garth Merenghi’s Darkplace, before she went on to work with the likes of Edgar Wright on Hot Fuzz and The World’s End, and Ben Wheatley on films like Sightseers and Kill List, to name a few. She was also in Netflix’s interactive movie, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, and the platform’s short-lived sci-fi TV show, Lockwood & Co.
Asa Butterfield
One of Asa Butterfield’s earliest leading roles (following 2008’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and 2011’s Hugo), saw him go to space in the titular role of 2013’s Ender’s Game and later saw him visit Earth for the first time in 2016’s The Space Between Us. The English actor has also starred in many recent horror titles, like Netflix’s Choose or Die, but one of his most popular gigs with the platform is leading the Sex Education cast as Otis.
What Rogue Trooper Is About
We established early on that Rogue Trooper is a video game series from Rebellion Developments that was first released in 2006, but the game is an adaptation of a 1981 comic strip that originated from 2000 AD — the U.K.-based sci-fi publication behind Judge Dredd. Created by writer Gerry Finley-Day with illustrator Dave Gibbons (best known from illustrating Watchmen, which was recently adapted into an animated movie), the Rogue Trooper character is a blue-skinned infantryman who has been genetically engineered to survive the inhabitable landscape of his war-torn planet, Nu-Earth.
Accompanied by the digital consciousnesses of his three dead comrades who have downloaded into his rifle, helmet, and backpack, the super soldier embarks on a personal mission of revenge while caught up in a brutal, ongoing conflict. No specific plot details for the Rogue Trooper movie has been revealed yet, but we imagine a fan like Duncan Jones will be devoted to staying true to the source material.
Written And Directed By Duncan Jones
Duncan Jones is serving as both the writer and director of Rogue Trooper. The son of late rock star David Bowie made his feature film debut with the aforementioned Moon (one of the best movies of the 2000s), which he followed with Source Code, Warcraft, and a Netflix movie called Mute from 2018.
Jones is also producing the film alongside Stuart Fenegan and Jason and Chris Kingsley. This will actually mark the second attempt at making Rogue Trooper, following when, according to Daily Record, acclaimed comic book writer Grant Morrison was set to pen the adaptation that never came to fruition after the disappointing box office returns of what is now considered one of the best non-Marvel or DC comic book movies, Dredd.
Rogue Trooper Is Animated With The Unreal 5 Engine Tool
While a live-action Rogue Trooper movie sounds like a pretty remarkable idea, as we established at the top, this feature will be animated. The film is being developed with the use of the Unreal 5 Engine, which is a virtual reality tool that is used by many game developers and animators to create realistic 3D simulations. So, that being said, anyone disappointed that they won’t be seeing a live-action adaptation might be thinking twice when the film comes out.
Hopefully, Duncan Jones and co. do not go rogue before Rogue Trooper gets finished!