Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski has given acclaimed director Zack Snyder his seal of approval to lead the charge on the upcoming live-action Netflix adaptation, though it comes with one big asterisk: Dave Bautista must be Marcus Fenix.
In an era where almost every video game is coming to the big screen in some capacity, it’s only fitting Gears of War is in line for the live-action treatment too. In light of highly successful projects like HBO’s The Last of Us and Sony’s Tom Holland-led Uncharted flick, Netflix officially cut a deal last year to bring us a Gears of War movie.
Not only is a big-budget film in the works, but so too is an animated television series, as the streaming giant doubles down on Microsoft’s hit third-person action franchise.
For the time being, no official details have been locked in beyond the mere fact it’s all going ahead. So with the window still open for seemingly anyone to join the projects, Man of Steel director Zack Snyder has now shown a keen interest, with the game’s creator even backing him to take it on.
Given his existing partnership with Netflix, Snyder is currently in Germany promoting Rebel Moon at Gamescom 2023. In a sit-down interview with IGN, the topic of video game adaptations came up.
“We’ve talked about a bunch of… Gears has always come up in our sort of circle,” he teased before then adding Halo to his list of dream projects as well.
Before long, this brief comment gained traction on social media and found its way to the very creator of the franchise, Cliff Bleszinski. The former game dev signed off on the idea of Snyder directing, but with one big caveat.
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“I approve, but only if Dave Bautista is Marcus [Fenix],” Bleszinski said.
I approve but only if @DaveBautista is Marcus… https://t.co/yIVq2pWHuu
— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) August 23, 2023
WWE Hall-of-Famer turned high-profile movie star, Bautista is no stranger to the Gears franchise. Having expressed his desire to join a live-action adaptation on multiple occasions over the past few years, it’s a role he’s been actively pursuing for quite some time.
“I really hope they will,” Bautista said when asked if Netflix will make contact when casting for the film. “It’s a part that I’ve sought after for years and I feel like I could bring a lot of heart to Marcus Fenix. I really would. I think I would do that part justice. I feel confident in it, so hopefully it’ll come my way and we’ll be having this conversation in a different way sometime.”
Given his evident passion for the series, we’ve even seen a Batista skin added in-game thanks to some Gears 5 DLC.
Should the stars align, perhaps we’ll be hearing sooner than later about Netflix’s Gears of War movie. And if luck should have it, maybe it’ll come with both Snyder and Bautista attached. But for now, we’ll just have to wait and see how things pan out.