Gears of War storms onto Netflix with a full-length feature film and animated series

Netflix looks to be expanding its list of video game adaptions once again, as the streaming powerhouse announced today that it will be bringing the popular Xbox franchise to its service in the future. This announcement coincides with the 16th anniversary of the Gears of War franchise, with the first game released way back in November 2006.

The current plan is to first release a “live-action feature film” and follow up with “an adult animated series,” with the possibility of more projects in the future. Netflix will be working alongside The Coalition, the Vancouver-based developer of the more recent titles in the franchise. Currently, there are no filmmakers, producers, or actors attached to the projects, and we are likely a little while off from getting any more details about this new deal.

This isn’t the first attempt that Gears have been put up for adaptation, going back to 2007 when New Line Cinema first nabbed the rights and brought on Stuart Beattie, Marty Bowen, and Wyck Godfrey to write a script, with director Len Wiseman of Live Free or Die Hard and several Underworld movies set to direct. Since then its been in various stages of development, with Wisemen leaving the project back in 2010, and the budget being significantly reduced. The now-head of original films at Netflix Scott Stuber was also at one point attached to the project as a producer, and in 2018, Universal hired F. Scott Frazier to write an adaption. Now with the backing of Netflix, it looks like we maybe finally have a Gears adaptation see the light of day.

Gears of War has proven to be a massive franchise, spanning 5 main entries with the newest entry Gears 5 released back in 2019. The series has gone on to sell more than 40 million copies, making it one of Xbox’s most popular franchises and has seen multiple spinoffs like the mobile game Gears POP! and Gears Tactics.

This isn’t the only video game-related project in the pipeline for Netflix, with projects involving BioShock, Splinter Cell, Assasins Creed, and Tekken to name a few also in the works.

Netflix’s track record with adaptations has been a mixed bag, with some like Castlevania, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, and Arcane being huge successes for the company, whilst others like Resident Evil were less than good, to put it mildly. For now, we will have to wait for more details and see what comes of this new partnership.