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Gears of War live-action movie and animated series in the works at Netflix

With "the potential" for more to come.

Artwork showing Gears of War protagonist Marcus Fenix crouched with a gun in his hand while a fiery explosion fills the background.
Image credit: The Coalition/Xbox

Over a decade and a half after a live-action Gears of War movie was first touted, Netflix has announced it's adapting The Coalition's cover shooter series for the small screen.

A Gear of War movie was first trumpeted back in 2007, when New Line Cinema purchased the rights for a live-action adaptation. However, its originally planned 2009 release date came and went, and the project has bounced around in development hell ever since - last resurfacing in 2019 when it was reported it would no longer even be set in the same universe as the games.

Whatever happened to that version of the adaptation, we may never know, as Netflix - on this, the 16th anniversary of the original Gears of War's release - has now announced a new partnership with current franchise stewards The Coalition.

Let's play Gears of War - Late to the Party.Watch on YouTube

It's a partnership that'll see the streaming service funding two separate Gears of War projects. First up is a live-action feature film - said to be an adaptation of the "video game saga", suggesting it'll be more faithful to the source material than Universal's stalled effort - and that'll be followed by an adult animated series.

Neither project has even a hint of a release date at present, but Netflix - whose seemingly endless line-up of future video game adaptations includes the likes of BioShock and Tomb Raider - has teased "the potential" for yet more Gears of War stories to follow.

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