Borderlands director explains why he had to cut beloved characters from film

If you’re a hardened fan of the Borderlands games, you might have noticed a few familiar faces are missing… and director Eli Roth is sorry. 

Picture it. The year is 2009 and a brand new game called Borderlands has just been released. You play as a team of four vault hunters – Lilith, Mordecai, Handsome Jack, and Roland – as they search for the long-lost treasures hidden on Pandora. 

However, fast forward 15 years and things look a little different. The live-action adaptation has all but abandoned the original game plot, instead patchworking different parts of the franchise together to form an entirely new story.

There have been some casualties along the way, though. The new movie misses out both Mordecai and Handsome Jack, alongside other iconic characters including Maya, Zer0, and Commandant Steele. 

Speaking to Dexerto, director Eli Roth explained that deciding to cut some of the franchise’s most important characters wasn’t an easy decision. 

“I mean, we had characters that are in the game that we had to cut from this one,” he explained. “It was just too much storyline. It was hard to streamline it, you know, I’m trying to throw in absolutely everything I can into the movie. But sometimes it just gets unwieldy.” 

Instead, Borderlands focuses on Lillith (Cate Blanchett), initially acting as a lone ranger while making her way back to home planet Pandora. She’s there to find Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), who has been kidnapped by Roland (Kevin Hart).

Together, they team up to find the lost vault, with a little help from frenetic robot Claptrap (Jack Black) and zoned-out expert Tannis (Jamie-Lee Curtis).

While we don’t see Mordecai and Handsome Jack this time around, that doesn’t mean we won’t ever see them in the flesh. 

If Borderlands 2 does happen – and we don’t know if it ever will, at this stage – Roth is only too happy to include more favorite faces.  

“Look, it’s up to the fans. If people come out and support the movie, then we’re lucky enough. I’d love to do another one. But at this point, we’re just focusing on this,” he added. 

Borderlands is in cinemas from August 8. Find out more about Borderlands 3 shift codes and everything we know about Borderlands 4 so far, alongside the latest updates on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and new movies streaming this month.