2000 AD is a long-running comic in the UK, which Moon director Duncan Jones has explained is “essentially the Marvel/DC of the UK.” The 2000 AD comics have actually had a couple of live-action movie adaptations. This is because the Judge Dredd character comes from 2000 AD. The two attempts at a movie series, with 1995’s Judge Dredd and 2012’s Dredd, would see both a failure and a success in their response from audiences, but unfortunately, both were equally unsuccessful at the box office to warrant any kind of continuation as a film franchise.
While Dredd didn’t quite take off, Duncan Jones is attempting to go back to the 2000 AD comic and translate another character from page to screen. Jones updates on his long-developing project of the Unreal Engine 5-animated Rogue Trooper. Per Deadline, the high-concept plot behind Rogue Trooper reads, “In the future, soldiers will have their military skills and personalities transferred onto a microchip that can then be downloaded into a new host, human or otherwise. Which is how number 19, aka the Rogue Trooper (Aneurin Barnard), comes to find himself caught behind enemy lines with a very odd platoon: Gunnar (voiced by Jack Lowden), his rifle; Bagman (Reece Shearsmith), his backpack; and Helm (Daryl McCormack), his helmet. Comedy icon Ade Edmonson even has a cameo — as a pair of boots.” The publication has caught up with Jones and producer Stuart Fenegan as they share new look images at their animated film.
Check out the teaser trailer and photos below:
When Deadline asked Jones why he chose to adapt Rogue Trooper out of everyone in 2000 AD, the Warcraft director explained, “They’ve got an absolute treasure trove of characters, and there’s a lot of them that I would’ve been gagging to do and absolutely would love the chance to do. But Rogue was always the one that felt most appealing to me.” He would then expound on his inspiration, “It’s funny, when I was in school, I was a big fan of Plato’s Republic and the tripartite division of the soul between the head, the stomach, and the heart. And I always read Rogue Trooper thinking of that division of the soul, with the characters of Bagman, Gunnar to and Helm. And when we started making the film, I finally had the opportunity to talk to the authors and ask them if that had been in their thinking. Obviously, it wasn’t. [Laughs.] It wasn’t at all! but it meant something to me.”