Borderlands director explains why movie was never going to be canon

If you’ve ever played the Borderlands games, you’ll have noticed changes from the movie trailer alone. But according to director Eli Roth, they are separate beings. 

It’s set to be a summer of blockbusters following a year of top-notch live-action adaptations… so what could be better than combining both? 

Adapted from the hit video game series, Borderlands heads to theaters on August 9 – but it already looks quite different from how you might remember it. 

In the first game, players follow four Vault Hunters – Brick, Lilith, Mordecai, and Roland – who arrive on Pandora in search of the fabled Vault. Our villain is Commandant Steele, a member of the Crimson Lance who is trying to claim alien Atlas technology they believe is hidden there.

In the new movie, this isn’t quite how it works. Lilith (Cate Blanchett) returns to Pandora as a lone ranger, facing off directly against Atlas himself after the kidnapping of his daughter, Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt). Brick and Mordecai don’t feature at all, while Tina only appears in a mini-game in the franchise.

The Borderlands movie feels a little like picking and choosing the best bits from across the franchise… and in Eli Roth’s eyes, that’s exactly what it is.

Speaking to Dexerto, the director confirmed that the action movie would still have plenty of Easter eggs for players to spot – not that he’s giving up what those are. 

“If I give away [my favorite] Easter egg, it won’t really be an Easter egg anymore.” Roth explained. “But it does differ. The games are the games and the movie’s the movie. That was one of the first things I talked to Randy Pitchford (the creator) about. 

“I was like, ‘I want to make a great, big, fun sci-fi movie. I want to do a mix of Star Wars, Mad Max, Fifth Element, Barbarella, Blade Runner, and Escape from New York. I want all of these things in there. I don’t want to just recreate what’s in the game.’  

“He was super great, just like, ‘Go for it.’ The games are their own canon and the movie is its own thing. So we did change stuff.”

Don’t panic, though… Borderlands doesn’t completely deviate from the first game’s plot. Lilith teams up with Claptrap (Jack Black), Roland (Kevin Hart), and Tannis (Jamie-Lee Curtis) to go in search of the lost vault, with side characters like Moxie (Gina Gershon) popping up along the way.

There’s also one Easter egg we can tell you about: Penn Jillette has a cameo in the film as a preacher overseeing a wedding, having previously voiced Pain in Borderlands 3 – blink, and you’ll miss her. 

Borderlands is in cinemas from August 8. Find out more about Borderlands 3 shift codes and everything we know about Borderlands 4 so far, alongside the latest updates on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and new movies streaming this month.