Gears of War: Is Dave Bautista playing Marcus in the Netflix movie?

Is Dave Bautista playing Marcus in the Gears of War Netflix movie? The actor has long expressed his interest in the role, but is it actually happening?

Gears of War is one of Xbox’s most well-known gaming franchises. Everyone remembers the first time they used the chainsaw bayonet on a locust, and let’s not talk about the trauma of Gears of War 3.

Talks of a film adaptation date back to 2007, but they never came to fruition – until now. Netflix recently announced a Gears of War movie and adult animated series, with the streaming platform said to have “grand ambitions” for the saga.

So, the question is: will we finally see Dave Bautista as Marcus?

Gears of War: Will Dave Bautista play Marcus?

It hasn’t been confirmed if Dave Bautista will play Marcus Fenix in the Gears of War Netflix movie – but we know one thing: he really wants to.

In 2018, during a fan interview for GameSpot, Bautista revealed he’d been “pursuing Gears of War for years… I believe it’s in the hands of Universal Studios, and I’ve been knocking on their door and badgering them.”

In a later interview with Collider, Bautista revealed he turned down a role in the Fast and Furious franchise because he was more interested in pursuing Gears of War.

He said: “I don’t make any pretense about it. I had a chance to get a meeting at WB, they were talking to me about this and that and I said ‘Hey, let’s talk about Bane.’ That happened to me one other time in my career. They wanted to talk to me about Fast and the Furious, and I said, ‘I’m not interested, let’s talk about [Gears of War character] Marcus Fenix.’

“I don’t mean to offend anybody. I’m not putting down anything else, I’m just saying [Gears] is way more interesting to me. I don’t want to pretend like I’m actually interested in something I’m not when there’s something I’m actually really excited about that you guys have under control.

“‘Would you consider me for that?’ I don’t think there’s any harm in that. I’m not trying to step on anybody else’s toes, I’m just saying like this is what I love and I’m seriously passionate about this. ‘I can do a good job for you guys on this.'”

Following Netflix’s announcement, Bautista posted an old Gears of War promotional video pitching himself for the role, even wearing the character’s COG armor. “It’s about f*cking time,” he says, captioning the clip: “I can’t make this any easier.”

Cliff Bleszinski, who served as lead designer on the first three Gears of War titles, replied to the actor: “Brother, as the designer of 1 2 and 3 you’re my first choice.”

There’s been no official announcements about the Gears of War movie’s cast at the time of writing.

You can find out more about the Gears of War movie here.