In 1974, Vietnam War veteran Joe Haldeman wrote The Forever War, a groundbreaking work in the genre of military science fiction. In short, the novel detailed the hardships faced by soldier William Mandella when thrown into interstellar combat. Haldeman's seminal depiction of time dilation, censorship, violence, future shock, and cultural advancement was unlike anything written prior. In fact, Robert Heinlein, the author of Starship Troopers, famously said that The Forever War "may be the best future war story I've ever read!"
Decades later in 2008, director Ridley Scott announced that he would return to science fiction with a film adaptation of The Forever War. Throughout the years, Scott repeatedly cited James Cameron's Avatar as inspiration and that a script was in development with Channing Tatum attached. Yet with the releases of Prometheus, The Martian and Alien: Covenant, it seemed that Ridley Scott had lost interest.
In December of 2016, screenwriter Jon Spaihts remarked that a script was still very much underway. But since then, there have been no further updates.
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of speaking to Joe Haldeman myself about "The Forever War film. He told me that he himself was not too sure of the production's progress, though Warner Bros. did pay him a good sum for the rights. (He also mentioned that the wheat fields in Alien: Covenant looked strikingly like those in his novel!)
So what ever happened to Ridley Scott's The Forever War? Shout out your thoughts in the comments below!
Pluribus Creator Intended to Riff Off Genre Headliners, But Perhaps Didn’t Expect This Connection
From the creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, expectations were notably high for the Apple TV+ release of Pluribus. The platform’s risi...
Watch 2 new Mercy (2026) movie clips ahead of the film's January 23rd release date!
Amazon's MGM Studios have just released 2 new movie clips from Mercy starring Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson.
Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 7 suffers big drop in ratings ahead of the series finale!
Season 5 saw a sharp drop in ratings at the conclusion of Episode 7 – The Bridge, with many fans disappointed by drawn-out scenes and questionable writing.
Weta Workshop share King Kong concept art to commemorate film's 20th anniversary!
Take a look back at some awesome early artwork created for Peter Jackson's iconic King Kong movie!
Disney just signed a deal with OpenAI to let Sora curate videos using Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar & other Disney characters.
Disney have made headlines by partnering with OpenAI to let the platform have access to Disney properties and characters from Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar and more.
