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Duncan Jones reveals cancelled 'Warcraft' trilogy plot

Duncan Jones' Warcraft won't get a sequel (credit: Legendary)
Duncan Jones' Warcraft won't get a sequel (credit: Legendary)

Source Code director Duncan Jones made a step up to the blockbuster big leagues when Legendary hired him to adapt the hugely popular Warcraft videogame series into a franchise-launching fantasy film.

Sadly, Warcraft proved to be a miss with critics and audiences alike, with even a successful run in China not able to save Jones’ plans for a trilogy.

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Speaking with Collider, Jones has revealed for the first time the narrative he wanted to cover over the course of three films.

“For me the story was about Gul’dan and taking the false walls, the symbol or the tribe that he was the chief of, taking them away from the world that was dying, on setting them up with a new home on this planet of Azeroth,” Jones said.

“And, really that was going to happen through his baby son who’s, for those who are lore junkies, was going to grow up to be this character called Thrall.”

“So really it was about, that story and everything else was how the orcs left their home world and clear that new home for themselves in Azeroth that was the three film arc I would’ve wanted to follow up.”

Director of the movie Duncan Jones poses at the premiere of the movie "Warcraft" in Hollywood, California U.S., June 6, 2016.   REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Director of the movie Duncan Jones poses at the premiere of the movie "Warcraft" in Hollywood, California U.S., June 6, 2016. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Jones offered some insight into the long creative process it took to make the first instalment.

“I had just spent three and a half years working on not just one studio film but a film which went through multiple studios. So it was an absolute… The essence of studio filmmaking. I got a chance to experience multiple studios’ takes on what a film of this size should be on one movie because…originally, we were Warner Bros. I was working with Atlas. I was working with Universal. I was working with Legendary. I was working with Blizzard.”

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“And obviously Blizzard were very passionate about what film should be because they are who had been with the game for so long and they didn’t want to detract from that. So there were more points as to what the film needed to be.”

“And then Legendary was bought by Wanda while we were making the movie. So it was a unique moment in time for experiencing what kind of craziness studio filmmaking could be.”