Borderlands made a splash when Gearbox Software debuted it on multiple gaming platforms in 2009. The video game is an open world action roleplaying first-shooter and features a plethora of fiercely violent madcap characters. The game follows a core group of four Vault Hunters who are traveling to the planet Pandora (not to be confused with Avatar‘s Pandora) to look for the Vault. This stash supposedly has riches, glory, and fancy alien tech that many factions want to get their hands on first. A movie based on this game has been in the works since 2015, and we finally learned about some forward progress in 2020.
This is everything we know about the Borderlands movie so far.
What’s It About?
Gearbox Software
Lionsgate shared an official plot synopsis on April 5, 2021:
Two-time Academy Award® winner Cate Blanchett teams up with Kevin Hart in director Eli Roth’s Borderlands. Lilith (Blanchett), an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas (Ramirez). Lilith forms an alliance with an unexpected team – Roland (Hart), a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina (Greenblatt), a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg (Munteanu), Tina’s musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis (Curtis), the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap (Black), a persistently wiseass robot.
These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other. Based on the game from Gearbox and 2K, one of the bestselling videogame franchises of all time, welcome to Borderlands.
We hope the film has a R rating to bring the mature content of Borderlands to the screen.
Who’s Behind the Scenes?
Eli Roth, best known for his horror films, is set as the director. Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) is writing. Mazin is also working on HBO’s The Last of Us TV series. Producers for the Borderlands movie include Avi and Ari Arad and Erik Feig, with executive producers Randy Pitchford (who served as executive producer on the game) and Strauss Zelnick.
Who’s Starring?
Warner Bros./Gearbox Software
And now we’re to the most exciting news about the Borderlands movie: the star power. The Hollywood Reporter shared in May 2020 that Cate Blanchett landed the role of Lilith, the film’s lead. Kevin Hart will play Roland, a soldier. Lilith and Roland are two of the game’s Vault Hunters. Edgar Ramirez will play Atlas, who is the most powerful man in the video game’s universe. (Naturally, that means he’s a businessman and arms manufacturer.)
Jamie Lee Curtis has signed on for the film too, playing Tannis, an archaeologist. And we also know Jack Black will voice Claptrap, the game’s recognizable sassy robot sidekick. IGN reported on April 6, 2021 that Dutch bodybuilder Olivier Richters will play Krom.
Deadline reported on the rest of the cast on April 29, 2021: Gina Gershon as Moxxi, Cheyenne Jackson as Jakobs, Charles Babalola as Hammerlock, Benjamin Byron Davis as Marcus, Steven Boyer as Scooter, and Ryann Redmond as Ellie. In addition, Bobby Lee is also joining the cast in the new role of Larry.
And we have a new look at the movie, courtesy of star Jamie Lee Curtis. On June 1, Curtis shared the following piece of artwork via her Instagram.
Though shared by Curtis, the photo actually depicts a silhouette of her costar Cate Blanchett’s character Lilith. The following caption accompanies Curtis’ post:
Welcome to BORDERLANDS and a secret BTS shot I took of Lilith, our legendary heroine, psycho blasting, vault hunting, vixen with a bad attitude and two Oscars to add to the baddasery in her tool belt, the once and future Queen of EVERYTHING, #cateblanchett Maybe next week, if you’re nice and let them know you want MORE and they don’t fire me for posting this, I’ll post other pictures of Roland @kevinhart4real Tiny Tina @ariana_greenblatt Krieg @bignasty Claptrap @jackblack and moi, Tannis and soon you will get to see the amazing mix of adventure and badonkadonk action and comedy from the brilliant minds of @borderlandsfilm director @realeliroth and game creator Randy Pitchford and the creative teams of @gearbox @picturestart @Lionsgate Arad Productions #shutterbugger
Curtis shared additional peeks of Tiny Tina, Clap Trap, Kreig, and Roland.
When Will It Arrive?
Borderlands doesn’t have a release window, date, or anything yet. But with COVID throwing off production schedules, it’s likely going to be 2022 at the earliest but probably 2023.
We’ll update this post as we learn more about the project, so bookmark this link and come back.
Originally published on April 2, 2021 with updates on April 5, April 6, April 29, and June 1 2021.