Borderlands: everything you need to know about the video game adaptation

Borderlands promises to bring punk energy to a sci-fi setting this August. In this all-action adaptation of the best-selling video game series, a group of alien misfits and rebels must form an unlikely alliance to stop a deadly villain.

Here's everything you need to know including cast, story, trailer and release date.

What is the story of Borderlands?

Here's the official synopsis from distributor Lionsgate: 'Lilith, an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe's most powerful S.O.B., Atlas. Lilith allies with an unexpected team – Roland, a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina, a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg, Tina's musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis, the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap, a persistently wiseass robot.

'These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands but they'll be fighting for something more: each other.'

Is Borderlands based on the video game of the same name?

Yes, Borderlands is adapted from the video game series developed by Gearbox Software. It's an FPS (first-person shooter) franchise that melds elements of Western and science fiction, inviting the player to roam through extraordinary and dangerous landscapes while hoarding loot and blasting enemies.

Players select one of the characters, representing Vault Hunters that have traveled to the planet Pandora to try to seek its fabled Vault. Each Vault Hunter has a different skill tree and one or more unique abilities. Players complete quests and explore Pandora while dealing with the violent Pandora wildlife, crazed scavengers that have been stranded on the planet, and various military groups that attempt to stop them. 

There have been seven games in total and it's one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time having shifted more than $1 billion worth of units. 

Who stars in Borderlands?

Cate Blanchett plays Lilith, a departure from her usual roles in classy and challenging dramas like TAR, for which Blanchett received her eighth Oscar nomination. This is the second time she's worked with director Eli Roth (more on whom below) following 2018's fantasy-comedy The House with a Clock in its Walls.

According to a piece in The Hollywood Reporter, it was Blanchett's love for John Carpenter's cult dystopian sci-fi thriller Escape from New York (1981) that secured her interest in the role. One can certainly see parallels between Blanchett's go-getting vigilante and Kurt Russell's no-nonsense anti-hero Snake Plissken.

Blanchett is joined by an all-star supporting cast including Kevin Hart (Jumanji) as Roland, Jack Black in a voice-only role as the robot Claptrap, Ariana Greenblatt (Barbie) as Tiny Tina, Florian Munteanu (Creed II) as Krieg and Jamie Lee Curtis (Oscar winner for Everything Everywhere All At Once) as Dr. Patricia Tannis.

Who is directing Borderlands?

Borderlands is directed by Eli Roth who is best known for splatterific and often controversial horror movies like Cabin Fever (2003), Hostel (2005) and Hostel 2 (2007).

Recently, Roth made the enjoyable slasher throwback Thanksgiving (2023), which was a feature adaptation of his own Thanksgiving trailer as featured in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's joint Grindhouse project (2007). Roth now expands his scope to encompass an entire alien world that's overrun by machines, dangerous creatures and marauding, amoral scavengers.

“There are certain things that we kept very, very close," Roth tells IGN, "but I really worked with [Gearbox Software CEO] Randy Pitchford, and he goes, ‘Think of it like Marvel, where the comics are their own canon and the movies are their own canon, and you don't have to be married to it. The games are going to be the games and the movies, the movie, and if they continue it, great.'

“So we could use certain things, but I didn't want to have to be too slavish. I didn't just want to film the game. We wanted to tell a great story on its own, but of course, it's loaded with Easter eggs for the fans. It's a big movie."

When is Borderlands released in the UK?

Borderlands is released on August 9th. Watch the trailer below.