After a long stretch of silence, Borderlands fans have been treated to a first look at the upcoming live action movie, including images of how Cate Blanchett looks as main character Lilith.
On Feb. 20, PEOPLE shared an exclusive pair of photos from distributor Lionsgate depicting Blanchett and the rest of the main cast, which consists of Kevin Hart as Roland, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Florian Munteanu as Krieg, Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis, and Jack Black as the voice of robot companion Claptrap.
Two photos is admittedly not a lot to go on, and without an actual trailer, there’s no telling whether or not the movie will be any good. At the very least, though, these images promise it will be visually faithful to the Borderlands games. Blanchett’s appearance as Lilith, in particular, looks spot on and has quickly proven a hit with fans on social media.
X (formerly Twitter) user Rad Dad Redemption said, “they nailed the look,” while one David Neary invited Blanchett’s Lilith to “ruin [his] life.” Another user, Daniel Camilo, is surprised “they managed to drag such an amazing actress as Cate Blanchett” into the Borderlands movie, though, her involvement makes Camilo hope it will be good. With any luck, a proper trailer will arrive sooner or later to show off the actors’ performances and offer a taste of the action. After all, the Borderlands movie is now officially only six months away, with it scheduled to arrive in cinemas on Aug. 9.
Borderlands fan are certainly starved for new content without any new games on the horizon. After 2022 gave them two spin-offs in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands and New Tales of the Borderlands, the series has gone quiet, though there have been whispers of a Borderlands 4 and a Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands sequel being in development.
You also can’t blame fans for being nervous about the state of Borderlands, considering what’s been happening with Embracer Group, the parent company of Borderlands developer Gearbox Software. Embracer has issued a wave of layoffs and studio shutdowns across the board (such as Timesplitters studio Free Radical), and there are even reports it’s been thinking of selling Gearbox after buying the studio for $1.3 billion in 2021.
