As part of his three-year overall deal with Legendary Entertainment, Brian K. Vaughan (Saga) is set to write the screenplay for Gundam, the studio's planned live-action adaptation of the world-famous mecha series. Co-produced with Japan's acclaimed animation and production studio Sunrise, Gundam aims to be the first time in the storied franchise's 40-year run that it will appear on the big screen in a live-action format. Just how much of the final film is actually live-action versus a computer-generated form of animation remains to be seen, as does the story of the first film itself, but Vaughan's attachment to the project gives it a bit of a boost, as Deadline reports.

However, Vaughan also has a number of screenplays for big-budget pictures in the "Pending" category of his filmography. The former Lost and Runaways writer, and creator/developer of the TV adaptation Under the Dome, has also been announced as a screenwriter for a new Silver Surfer movie and the attempted 80s cartoon reboots/feature film treatments for M.A.S.K. and Visionaries. Then there's Vaughan's adaptation of his own comic series Y: The Last Man that has yet to head into production but aims to arrive on FX next year. In other words, there are a lot of irons in Vaughan's fire, so it remains to be seen just how quickly Gundam will get the go-ahead.

Here’s a look at the previously released press release that announced the project last July:

Legendary and Sunrise announced today at Anime Expo 2018, plans to co-produce the first-ever live-action feature film version of GUNDAM, based on Sunrise’s massively popular Mecha anime and science fiction media franchise. The billion dollar property was created in 1979 and has spawned a multi-platform universe encompassing televised anime, manga, animated films, video games, plastic models, toys, and novels among other media. Gundam continues to dominate master toy licensee Bandai Namco’s earnings almost forty years after its inception.

 

The original Gundam series is set in the Universal Century, an era in which humanity’s growing population has led people to emigrate to space colonies. Eventually, the people living in the colonies seek their autonomy, and launch a war of independence against the people living on Earth. Through the tragedies and discord arising from this human conflict, not only the maturation of the main character, but also the intentions of enemies and the surrounding people are sensitively depicted. The battles in the story, in which the characters pilot robots known as mobile suits, are wildly popular.

 

The story for the live-action version of Gundam is being kept under wraps.

 

The project will be overseen by Cale Boyter on behalf of Legendary with the Sunrise creative team.

Here's a look at our previous coverage on all things Gundam, live-action and animation alike:

• Funimation’s Winter Titles Include ‘Iron-Blooded Orphans’, One of the Best ‘Gundam’ Series Ever
• ‘Gundam’ Live-Action Movie in the Works at Legendary
• Hollywood! Adapt This: MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM