Jason Clarke joins Sydney Sweeney in Gundam movie adaptation

Jason Clarke has signed on to the Gundam movie adaptation.

The Oppenheimer actor, 56, will be joining Sydney Sweeney, 28, and Noah Centineo, 29, in Legendary Pictures’ upcoming cinematic take on the Japanese anime series of the same name, Deadline reports.

However, the role Clarke will be playing and the film’s story have not been disclosed as of yet.

The Gundam movie - which is being co-developed by Legendary and franchise owner Bandai Namco Filmworks - will be the first live-action theatrical take on the series.

Helmed by Sweet Tooth’s Jim Mickle, the Gundam film will be directed from his own script, while he also serve as a producer alongside his partner Linda Moran under their Nightshade banner.

As well as starring in the movie, Centineo has signed on to produce the Gundam flick with his partner Enzo Marc.

Legendary is said to be eyeing Netflix to distribute the film.

Gundam was first launched in 1979 as an anime series and struggled to gain an audience at first, but it grew in popularity during the 1980s due to a wide variety of adaptations across animated feature films, novels and video games.

Since its debut, Gundam has spawned 85 movies and TV shows so far, and now earns $600 million through its merchandise arm every year.

The sci-fi franchise helped pioneer the subgenre known as “mecha”, which focuses on giant fighting robots called Mobile Suits.

Legendary - which partnered with Sunrise to develop the live-action film - described the Gundam universe with the following synopsis: “The original Gundam series is set in the Universal Century, an era in which humanity’s growing population has led people to emigrate to space colonies.

“Eventually, the people living in the colonies seek their autonomy, and launch a war of independence against the people living on Earth.

“Through the tragedies and discord arising from this human conflict, not only the maturation of the main character, but also the intentions of enemies and the surrounding people are sensitively depicted. The battles in the story, in which the characters pilot robots known as Mobile Suits, are wildly popular.”

Gundam has had a long and arduous journey to the silver screen, as in 2019, Lost and Under The Dome scribe Brian K. Vaughan was brought on to write a live-action take on the anime series.

Then, in 2021, Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts was attached to the project, though ultimately dropped out.

Mickle was announced as the writer-and-director in 2024, with Sweeney and Centineo cast in Gundam a year later.

After teaming up once again with his Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow for Netflix’s political thriller A House of Dynamite, Clarke was recently seen portraying convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh in Hulu’s limited series Murdaugh: Death in the Family.

The actor has also recently finished filming Warner Bros.’ upcoming action-thriller F.A.S.T., which was written by Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan and is slated to hit screens in April 2027.