Legendary taps Zeb Wells to write Buck Rogers film draft

Legendary Pictures has tapped screenwriter Zeb Wells to write the latest draft of a feature adaptation of Buck Rogers, the studio confirmed, marking fresh movement on a project that has been in development since the company secured screen rights in 2020. The film will be based on Philip Francis Nowlan's Armageddon 2419 A.D., a late 1920s novella that introduced the Buck Rogers character, a coal mine inspector who falls into suspended animation and awakens roughly five centuries later into a 25th century at war.

Details of Wells's take on the story are being kept under wraps. Mary Parent and Cale Boyter are overseeing the project for Legendary, and studio executives have said the company has, at various stages of development, envisioned a broader transmedia approach that could include a feature film alongside potential live action and animated series. It is not yet clear which of those related projects remain active.

Wells is a prolific writer in comic- and genre-oriented entertainment and has recently been part of several high-profile projects. He co-wrote the 2024 film Deadpool Wolverine, and he created and served as executive producer on the adult animated miniseries Marvel...