Donald Glover Lines Up Netflix’s “PUBG” As Star & Director

Donald Glover is taking on “PUBG” at Netflix, with the Childish Gambino artist attached to star in a live-action series based on the battle royale game.

The project is in development. According to Deadline, Glover will also direct, write and executive produce. His brother Stephen Glover will share writing and executive-producing duties.

The Netflix project follows a change to his Amazon deal. Deadline reported that the exclusive agreement he signed in 2021 was renewed as a first-look pact, which lets him work with other studios.

The game gives the brothers a survival contest to build around. Up to 100 players enter a map, search for weapons and fight to stay alive. A shrinking danger zone limits where they can safely go. Players can compete alone or team up in pairs and four-person squads.

Krafton, the company behind “PUBG,” has already tried telling stories outside the matches. Its 2021 live-action short “Ground Zero” starred Don Lee and took place at Hosan Prison in Taego, a location tied to one of the game’s maps. That 2021 short is separate from Glover’s planned Netflix series.

The company also announced an animated project with “Castlevania” producer Adi Shankar in July 2021. In its announcement, Krafton described a wider push to turn the game into a multimedia franchise. That history puts the Netflix project within a screen-expansion effort that began years before Glover’s involvement.

For Glover, adapting an existing property is familiar ground. He co-created Prime Video’s “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” with Francesca Sloane and starred opposite Maya Erskine. The series reworked the premise of the 2005 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie movie, pairing two strangers as spies who assume new identities and pose as a married couple.

“Atlanta” earned Glover Emmys for acting and directing. Stephen wrote and executive produced that FX series alongside his brother, who created the show and played its lead role.

The “PUBG” producing team also includes Michael Schaefer for Neon TV, Fam Udeorji for Gilga and Taeseok Jang and Sujin Lee for Krafton’s entertainment arm, LV3H.

Netflix’s other game adaptations in development include a live-action “Assassin’s Creed” series and a “Gears of War” film. No premiere date has been announced for “PUBG”.