Duncan Jones hadn’t directed a movie in eight years. His last one was Mute, the 2018 Netflix sci-fi film that landed with a shrug and quietly became the longest gap of his career. That drought just ended.
Jones’ animated adaptation of the cult 2000 AD comic, Rogue Trooper — built using Unreal Engine 5 and produced with Rebellion Developments — world-premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2026, closing out what Jones has described as a decades-long chase. “I’d been wanting to make this film for twenty-five years,” he told Cineuropa.
The film follows 19 (voiced by Aneurin Barnard), a genetically engineered “Genetic Infantryman” who’s the sole survivor of an invasion force on the alien planet Nu Earth, accompanied by the personalities of his three dead squadmates, stored in his gun, helmet, and backpack. The voice cast also includes Hayley Atwell, Sean Bean, Jack Lowden, Daryl McCormack, Matt Berry, and Jemaine Clement.
Early reviews out of Annecy have been largely positive. The Wrap’s Drew Taylor called it “an absolute hoot,” according to a review roundup, while Deadline described it as a “fast, funny, visually mind-blowing old-school war movie.”
Jones also made a point of what the film doesn’t use: generative AI — a distinction FOS has flagged before with Neill Blomkamp’s Nightborne backlash. “We did not use an AI line on this film,” Jones said at Annecy, per DT Movies.
But Rogue Trooper almost didn’t happen — because right before it, Jones made the movie that nearly ended his run as a director. Here’s our original 2018 review of Mute, the film that came right before the eight-year wait.
Our Original Mute Review – February 2018
Back in 2018, Netflix was in the middle of an aggressive push into big-budget sci-fi. After Bright landed at the end of 2017, the streamer followed up with a string of genre swings — The Cloverfield Paradox underwhelmed critics, while Altered Carbon fared better. Duncan Jones’ techno-noir film, Mute, hoped to do the same. Unfortunately, the striking visuals, amazing sets and dazzling costume design couldn’t hide the film’s uncommonly flat and convoluted script. Unable to get by on just its gimmick and looks, it ended up in the “Only If You Really Have Nothing Else To Watch” bin.
Set 40 years into the future in a lurid dystopian Berlin (in the same universe as Jones’ Moon), Mute follows Leo, a mute Amish bartender played by Alexander Skarsgård, who searches for his missing Iranian girlfriend, Naadirah (Seyneb Saleh), amidst the seedy neon-lit underworld. Of course, the more he searches for her, the more danger comes his way and the more secrets he uncovers. Along the way, he encounters one of the film’s more interesting characters, Cactus Bill (Paul Rudd), an American surgeon who’s currently AWOL from his military service.
While Skarsgård might predominantly feature, it’s Rudd’s Bill and his 70s-inspired moustache that light up beyond the ever-lit backgrounds. This might have a lot to do with the fact that Skarsgård’s silent performance feels one-note and ends up being a storytelling obstacle rather than an interesting twist. Regardless, Rudd manages to squeeze in a little humour and charm in a film that feels incredibly bleak.
You would expect that somewhere down the line, there would be more cracking skulls, as the film’s trailer promises. However, Jones offers very little momentum and instead gives us a tour of the eye-tickling city, which is filled with sex robot dens and strip clubs, rather than a futuristic version of The Equalizer. It’s Super Mario searching for the Princess with only a handful of Goombas in his way.
The comparisons to Blade Runner 2049 are invertible. Sadly, Mute is nowhere near as polished. It always plays out like a stock missing-persons mystery.
Where Things Stand Now
Rogue Trooper still doesn’t have a wide release date. The film has yet to land U.S. distribution following its Annecy premiere, and Jones and the producers haven’t confirmed a theatrical or streaming date — so for now, festival screenings and a handful of early reviews are the only way to judge whether the former Moon director has actually turned things around.
If you want to see where the eight-year wait started, Mute is still streaming on Netflix.
