You may recall that back in February I reported that both Danny McBride and Max Landis were developing two GI Joe movie scripts.
I reported shortly after that Landis’ script was rejected by Paramount, and now McBride, writer of Halloween Ends and The Precious Gemstones, has revealed that his script is done, and not only that, he’s revealed some details about what to expect.
Talking about how much he loved GI Joe as a kid, saying it was bigger to him than Star Wars or Transformers, McBride reveals that he approached Paramount about doing a Dreadnoks movie. For those who don’t know, the Dreadnoks are a group of very unpleasant mercenaries from the Australian outback who very often work alongside the villains, Cobra.
Landis and McBride working on new GI Joe movie script(s) UPDATED
If you’ve read the recent Cobra Commander storyline in Skybound’s Energon comics, you’ll know just how bad these guys can be.
However, McBride reveals that Paramount, rather than doing a Dreadnoks movie, asked him if he had any ideas for relaunching the GI Joe franchise instead and he took the challenge and is not getting ready to film.
“I’m stoked about it. I’m really fired up about the script. Paramount seems fired up about it. So hopefully we’re shooting it next year,” McBride tells Josh Horowitz on the Happy, Sad, Confused Podcast.
Paramount introduced GI Joe very briefly at the end of the last Transformers movie, Rise of the Beasts, so it’s likely that this movie will establish who the team is before properly crossing over with the robots in disguise, explaining why they asked McBride if he could set the whole scene.
“Weirdly,” McBride goes on, “it grounds G.I. Joe. It’s not a comedy. It’s like kind of suspense and action. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
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He revealed that the movie will focus on the town of Springfield, a big part of the GI Joe lore, which was a town in Illinois that was the base of operations for Cobra in the US. Basically, it was a town that housed the bad guys – if you’ve seen Ballerina, think that but with more elaborate costumes – Cobra Commander even had the keys to the town at one point: “There’s that town in the comic, Springfield, which is a town that’s secretly all Cobra. That is where our film takes place.”
The movie will focus on GI Joe leader Duke “and a group of other Joes”.
Honestly, I love the sound of this so far, and while I would never have seen Danny McBride, star of Eastbound and Down, as being the man to make GI Joe work, I see his enthusiasm and really hope he can deliver.
Thoughts? I know you have them and I wanna hear ’em all.
Watch McBride talk about it here:
Danny McBride talks about his GI Joe movie on the Josh Horowitz podcast.
This might be the best shot we’ve ever had at a proper GI Joe adaption.
He shares his love for the Hama comics, mentions pitching a Dreadnoks movie, & the script involves Duke in the town of Springfield… pic.twitter.com/Q4vreXGspv
— Conrad Hauser (@gijoeguy84) July 2, 2026
What?! Nick Frost just teased Spaced series 3! How’s that for a slice of fried gold?
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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