Lord of the Rings and Thor: Ragnarok star Cate Blanchett is expanding her presence in nerddom with the confirmation that she will star in the Borderlands movie adaptation from Lionsgate. She’s set to reteam with her The House With a Clock in Its Walls director Eli Roth on the project.
Although the news has long circulated the internet as rumor, Lionsgate only recently confirmed the news. When talks first surfaced, we also learned that HBO’s Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin (who’s also adapting The Last of Us for TV) wrote the adaptation’s most recent draft of the script. Meanwhile, Randy Pitchford and Strauss Zelnick will executive produce.
Blanchett plays Lilith: one of six sirens from the planet Dionysus, who has the power of invisibility and enhanced speed, thanks to her ability to phasewalk. She’s also appeared in just about every Borderlands game as both playable and non-playable characters. Created by Gearbox Software, the game series itself is a looter/shooter long-beloved by couch compatriots with time to kill. The most recent entry, Borderlands 3, hit shelves last September to glowing reviews from longtime fans and less-so from first-timers.
Most recently, Blanchett appeared as Equal Rights Amendment opposition Phyllis Schafly in Hulu’s historical miniseries, Mrs. America. Looking forward, she’s also landed a starring role in James Gray’s upcoming Armageddon Times and Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up.