Starship Troopers Star Wants Robert Rodriguez To Direct The TV Reboot

Starship Troopers star Casper Van Dien wants Robert Rodriguez to direct the TV reboot. Van Dien first played pretty boy space marine Johnny Rico in Paul Verhoeven’s ultra-violent 1997 adaptation of Robert Heinlein’s classic sci-fi novel. He later returned to the role in 2008’s direct-to-video sequel Starship Troopers 3: Marauder and also voiced the character in the 2017 computer-animated follow-up Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars, which itself went straight to video.

As for the future of Johnny Rico and Starship Troopers, if indeed they have a future, it appears not to be in the realm of movies at all but on the small screen. This at least was the indication given by screenwriter Ed Neumeier who in early 2019 said a TV show based on the militaristic sci-fi property was in the works at Sony Television. Neumeier at the same time shot down the idea of a PG-13 movie reboot, saying such a watered-down version of Starship Troopers would never fly. Later on, original Starship Troopers star Jake Busey revealed that both he and Van Dien had discussed the TV project with Neumeier. Since then there have been no significant updates on progress toward getting Starship Troopers back on the screen.

Now in a new interview with Inverse, Van Dien has given his thoughts about the discussed Starship Troopers TV show. Clearly Van Dien is down to return as Johnny Rico, and he even has an idea who should helm the TV show if it happens. “I would love it if Robert Rodriguez was in the mix,” he said, adding “I would love it and I think he would be the perfect guy for it.” Van Dien indeed mentioned that when they were working together on Alita: Battle Angel, Rodriguez would talk to him all the time about Starship Troopers. Van Dien’s wishlist of potential directors actually goes beyond Rodriguez as he also mentioned Quentin Tarantino, James Wan and Edgar Wright as avowed fans of the original movie. He said:

“I think that all those directors, it would be fun to have them come in and do an episode or two or three, or an arc, or something like that. I think it would be fun if we had that kind of thing where it’s real filmmakers making the thing. That would be my goal.”

Rodriguez of course has a long action filmmaking resume, including the aforementioned Alita, but perhaps his most relevant credit when it comes to him taking on Starship Troopers is his one-episode stint on The Mandalorian. That episode, season 2’s pivotal “The Tragedy,” was an action-heavy installment featuring a protracted battle on a random planet between Mando and his friends and waves of ultimately helpless Stormtroopers. Replace Mando and company with Johnny Rico and his fellow space marines, and imagine space bugs in place of Stormtroopers, and it’s quite easy to picture the sequence taking place in the Starship Troopers universe. Indeed, it’s possible to see Rodriguez’s Mandalorian episode as almost an audition reel for directing Starship Troopers.

It remains to be seen whether Rodriguez or any of the other names on Van Dien’s director wishlist become involved with the TV reboot, but it’s clear Van Dien has some ambitious ideas for the show. It would of course be cool to see big name directors like Rodriguez or Wright or Wan become involved in Starship Troopers, after The Mandalorian proved the value of having strong directorial talent behind the camera on an action-heavy sci-fi adventure. It might almost be more interesting to do Starship Troopers as an anthology show with separate stories set in the movie’s universe, each helmed by a different director offering their take on that universe, rather than see it tackle an ongoing narrative. Either way, it’s clear Van Dien’s Johnny Rico must return, even if he’s now old and gray. As long as there are satirically gung-ho space marines like Rico blowing up bugs, with loads of disgusting goo flying everywhere, it will still be Starship Troopers.

Source: Inverse

About The Author