Jack Black Is Heading Into The “Borderlands”

There has been a lot of updates to upcoming video game film and series adaptations, such as Pedro Pascal taking on the lead role in HBO’s Last of Us. But that’s far from the only video game franchise moving forward with a film, and it was just announced that the one and only Jack Black would be taking on a role in the Eli Roth-directed Borderlands.

The games, which first hit consoles back in 2009 from developers Gearbox Software and 2k, are set on the distant and desert-like planet of Pandora. However, the inhabitants of the world are both unruly and anarchic, in a vein similar to George Miller’s Mad Max. The story follows a group of augmented mercenaries hunting down an alien vault rumored to contain advanced technology, which they hope to use to arm and protect themselves, while selling off what they don’t need, and hopefully before the armies of a private corporation that basically runs the planet. Along the way, the group finds themselves battling the vicious creatures native to Pandora, as well as fighting rival bandits.

Black will be taking on the role of Black Claptrap, an obstinately sarcastic who doesn’t much care for its compatriots. As such, Black will only be providing the voice of Claptrap. The singer/comedian Cate Blanchett who is starring as Lilith, a world-renowned thief, as well as Kevin Hart as a veteran soldier named Roland and Jamie Lee Curtis as the archeologist, Tannis.

The project was first announced in February of 2020, when Roth was announced as the helmer for the adaptation, while the Emmy-winning creator of Chernobyl, Craig Mazin was named as the scriptwriter, while Erik Feig, Avi Arad and Ari Arad are all on board as producers. There is no timetable for when Borderlands could go into production, or what date Lionsgate is looking at for a release, but it seems likely that this won’t be ready until summer 2022, at the earliest.