Following recent trends of popular video games getting movie or TV show adaptations, it was predictable that the Borderlands franchise would too. The news of a Borderlands movie adaptation already came in 2015, but that project never picked up the pace and ended up being postponed. The movie, however, was again announced in February of last year and production has started already.
The movie adaptation features Eli Roth as the director—who is known for his horror movies, like Hostel and Grindhouse—and Craig Mazin, best known for his five-part miniseries Chernobyl for HBO. The Borderlands movie will feature Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Kevin Hart as Roland, Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Florian Munteanu as Krieg, Jack Black as Claptrap's voice, and Edgar Ramirez as Atlas.
RELATED: Borderlands 3 Director's Cut DLC is Probably Bringing Back a Vault Hunter, But Who?
The casting itself speaks volumes about how the movie is not going to be a faithful, accurate adaptation of any of the games from the Borderlands franchise, and the synopsis Lionsgate disclosed recently confirms that. First of all, Atlas never was a character in the games, but rather a whole corporation run by faceless individuals.
Second, the first game featured Lilith, Roland, Mordecai, and Brick as the main characters, while Borderlands 2 featured Axton, Maya, Zer0, Salvador, Gaige, and Krieg. Tiny Tina never was a playable character, but she has been a recurrent secondary character since the second game came out, much like the archaeologist and scientist (and Siren) friend of Lilith, Tannis. The characters from the movie are a mix of these, further indicating that the movie adaptation is not going to be about a single game, but rather the Borderlands universe as a whole.
"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 wise*ss 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."
Despite Lionsgate affirming that the movie would follow the story and pick up elements straight from the source material, the recently disclosed synopsis seemingly changes all that. Considering the aforementioned information about Atlas becoming a character of his own, and considering how the story will revolve around Lilith teaming up with the other characters in order to save a little girl on behalf of Atlas himself, the movie doesn't look like something pulled from the source content of the Borderlands games. The girl is allegedly Atlas' own daughter, but it seems that she might be the key to unlocking a vault that Atlas is interested in.
On such premise, it is likely that Atlas will initially be an ally, maybe menacing and charming in Handsome Jack sort of way, and then become the main villain of the plot. The synopsis also kind of implies that the characters do not know each other prior to the events of the movie, and their backgrounds and personalities might be different from those of the games. There is no talk about Lilith's powers as a Siren, either, and that might indicate that the movie won't have room for them or that they will be some sort of secret weapon Lilith draws when the group will be in a seemingly impossible situation. As such, it may be a deus ex machina of sorts, rather than a strong background and characteristic element, though it's unlikely to ignore her Siren powers altogether.
RELATED: Borderlands: Tiny Tina Actress Shares Behind-The-Scenes Set Photo
In Borderlands 1, Roland is an ex-Crimson Lance soldier, which means a former Atlas employee. Given the premise of the story, this element might be changed so as to not create conflict within the group or with Atlas himself. Also, he is not desperate for redemption in the game, and this specific detail might entail further changes to his background and his relationship with Lilith.
Another element that is very different from the game is the type of relationship implied between Krieg and Tiny Tina. Krieg in the game is a Psycho, and he has been subject to psychological abuse and experiments from Hyperion's Dr. Benedict. In Borderlands 2, he is a playable character suffering from multiple personalities, with Psycho Krieg being the dominating one and Sane Krieg being his inner voice. He is not Tina's protector, but at her request, he teaches her the bandit lifestyle. On the other hand, Tiny Tina is a psychotic young girl with an obsession with explosives, for the use of which she constantly demonstrates great expertise. The movie seems to change parts of their stories and create a whole new narrative for the pair.
According to the synopsis, the characters that are most likely to retain their characteristic traits from the games seem to be Tannis and Claptrap. Claptrap, as the definition of being a "presistently wise*ss robot" is especially fitting for the character and the behavior displayed in the games. Tannis does indeed sound not completely sane in the games, as she is very often showing a lack of empathy and perception of her surroundings.
In Borderlands 3, she is revealed to be a Siren, and she seemingly inherited Angel's powers after her heart-breaking demise in Borderlands 2's timeline of events. She has Phaseshift abilities that allow her to control all sorts of technology, and a demonstration of her powers in the movie would be very interesting to witness, albeit unlikely to be included in it. Of course, all of this is speculation for the time being, but the synopsis suggests fans should not walk in expecting a direct adaptation nonetheless.
The Borderlands movie is in the works.