Jumanji's Kevin Hart joins Cate Blanchett in ‘Borderlands’ movie

Two of the four original members of Eli Roth’s film adaptation of Gearbox Software’s Borderlands have been cast.

Jumanji's resident zoologist and weapons carrier Kevin Hart has been cast as Roland, a character from the first two Borderlands games and The Pre-Sequel. The press release announcing Hart's casting references the character as an "ex-soldier turned mercenary" which matches the character's backstory in the game.

Hart will star alongside Cate Blanchett (The Lord of the Rings), who was previously cast as the thief-siren Lilith in the upcoming movie version of the stylized sci-fi shooter.

There are four playable characters featured in the original Borderlands video game for players to choose from: Brick, a large, powerful man, who operates as a Berserker; Lilith, a woman with powerful alien abilities, operating as a Siren; Mordecai, a skilled marksman with an avian companion named Bloodwing, operating as a Hunter; and Roland, a former member of the Crimson Lance, operating as a Soldier. 

As reported by IGN Southeast Asia, the film will be directed by Cabin Fever and Hostel director, Eli Roth while Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford serves as executive producer on the movie.

“I’m thrilled to be working with Kevin,” Roth said in a released statement. “Borderlands is a different kind of role for him, and we are excited to thrill audiences with a side of Kevin they’ve never seen before. He’s going to be an amazing Roland.”

The film will be written by Craig Mazin, who recently wrote HBO's critically-acclaimed Chernobyl miniseries and is currently developing a miniseries version of another popular video game The Last of Us as well.

Since the first Borderlands video game was launched in 2009, it has become one of Gearbox and publisher 2K Games’ most successful franchises, leading to three full sequels and an episodic spinoff from Telltale Games. 

The most recent title is Borderlands 3 launched in September 2019 for PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One. An updated version for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X launched with the new consoles in November 2020.

Check out the trailer for the original Borderlands video game below, which shows the main characters like Roland and Lilith in action.

(Images via Gearbox Software and Sony Pictures/Columbia)