Rhys Thomas is on a winning streak following the success ofHawkeye. Thomas, who served as director and executive producer on the Disney Plus show, has been hired bySony Picturesto direct Mark Canton and Gianni Nunnari’s upcoming live-action film adaptation of the popular ’80s anime seriesRobotech.
Robotechoriginally consisted of three unrelated anime series that were adapted into one for its 1985 United States release. After an alien spacecraft crashed on a South Pacific island, humans used the technology to develop giant robots to fight off three consecutive extraterrestrial invasions, which are motivated by a desire for a powerful energy source called ‘protoculture,’ in what is known as the Robotech Wars.
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Although most details regardingSony’s forthcoming live-action adaptation remain unclear, Deadline reports the film will follow a similar premise as the original series. Art Marcum and Matt Holloway penned the script that was later rewritten by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka. Harmony Gold, the production company that was responsible for producing and distributingthe ’80s anime, is also involved. Unfortunately, information about the cast and release date is being kept under wraps.
Like a good deal of otherlive-action anime adaptations, there were multiple failed attempts to make aRobotechfilm. Andy Muschietti, known for his work on the 2017Itremake and its 2019 sequel, and James Wan were both attached to direct at one point but passed on to pursue other projects. Even after Sony Pictures acquired the rights in 2015, theRobotechfilm spent several years in developmental hell, though it seems that it is now heading in the right direction with Thomas in the director’s chair.
Thomas received widespread attention for directing three of the six episodes ofHawkeye, which sees Jeremy Renner reprise his role as the Avenger and introducesHailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, his protegé. The series received rave reviews, with critics praising the focus on the street-level setting, and has since become one of the highest-ranked Marvel Studios projects to date. Although season 2 has not been announced yet, it wouldn’t come as a surprise given the success of season 1.
Thomas is also highly respected in the comedy world for hiswork onSNLandDocumentary Now!,a mockumentary series that he created alongside comedy heavyweights Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, and Seth Meyers. The show, which is currently in production on season 4, earned four Emmy nominations since its debut in 2015 on IFC. Thomas' experience in comedy is a good indicator of the direction thatRobotechis likely to take, as his past work proves how well he can manage to combine action and comedy.
