Luca Guadagnino Bringing His 'Queer' Team To DC Studios For 'Sgt. Rock' Film
Daniel Craig is set to star as the soldier known for being Easy Company
Ladies and gentlemen, Sgt. Rock. Academy Award-winning director Luca Guadagnino looks to be bringing his Queer star and former James Bond Daniel Craig into the new DC Universe with Sgt. Rock. The screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes, not only writer of Queer but Challengers before that, is said to be a World War II period piece “in good shape” for the deal with DC Studios to go through, but hasn't yet.
With no definitive film or TV adaptations having happened to this point (as much as they tried), a character like Sgt. Rock might need an explanation. Sgt. Franklin John Rock was created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, debuting in Our Army at War #82 in 1959. Rock is known as a member of the Easy Company, a unit that fought in the European Theatre during World War II. The character spawned his own comic series in 1977 which ran until July 1988. He can shoot down German plans with a single submachine gun, toss grenades with great accuracy, and utilize a “Combat Antenna” able to detect an incoming enemy siege. He is considered a great street fighter when not armed, and can survive gunshots.
Getting the character to the big screen spans several attempts dating back to the 1980s with different writers and drafts. A build like his leads to names like Arnold Schwarzenegger being attached and Bruce Willis in talks later on. Some already believe we’re about to see Sgt. Rock appear in Creature Commandos the animated series that soft launches the new DC Universe, premiering December 5. This is due to a specific image released in September through Entertainment Weekly with GI Robot hanging out with other Easy Company members.
Having a screenwriter, director, and star already in place may very well fast track it to a place rather early in the first chapter of the studio’s new DC Universe slate, whose first “Gods and Monsters” chapter has Superman, releasing July 11, 2025, and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, releasing June 26, 2026, the only films of the five they were announced with in January 2023 to be scheduled. A month and a half after making those announcements, studio co-CEO and Superman writer James Gunn appointed himself to direct. Casting announcements began in June with David Corenswet as the Man of Steel. Supergirl’s writer, Ana Nogueira wasn’t revealed until November, and Milly Alcock wasn’t cast until January, though the dual writers’ and actors’ strikes may have been a factor there. Craig Gillespie wasn’t reported to be in talks to direct until April. This Sgt. Rock movie would be prepacked with everything Supergirl took 15 months to collect. This would be the second (or third) film intended for the DC Universe reported to be in development after Teen Titans, outside of the five announced for the chapter, though the chapter was never going to be so rigid to not let anything else in.
Guadagnino became most known to American audiences starting with 2017’s Call Me by Your Name, with this year’s Zendaya-starring tennis romantic drama Challengers being his biggest box office success. Sgt. Rock is ready to be his next gig, coming before an American Psycho reboot of all things for Lionsgate. Since exiting Bond, Craig, whose other film work includes Logan Lucky and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, has in addition to Queer, fulfilled Netflix’s two-sequel deal for Knives Out mysteries as Benoit Blanc, with Glass Onion and next year’s Wake Up Dead Man.
Sources: Nexus Point News, Deadline