Director Says Taylor Sheridan’s Call of Duty Film Will Have “Soul” Wait, quotation marks aren’t allowed, so here is the corrected version: Director Says Taylor Sheridan’s Call of Duty Film Will Have Soul

Before he created the sprawling Yellowstone franchise and the dad-drama series Landman for Paramount, writer Taylor Sheridan made his name with action thrillers. They include Sicario, Hell or High Water and Without Remorse. The last of those is based on Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six precursor.

Sheridan’s next big project is an adaptation of Activision’s Call of Duty franchise. He is working with Peter Berg, who directed the modern military movies The Kingdom and Lone Survivor. According to Berg, Sheridan brings something to the 2028 Call of Duty movie that few other writers could.

Call of Duty director comments on the adaptation

Berg is currently promoting his latest war film, The Mosquito Bowl. The World War II movie is based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Buzz Bissinger. Berg spoke with ComicBook.com about the approach he and Sheridan are taking. He said they want to deliver more than shoot-’em-up action.

“Modern Warfare, if you really look at the missions, and the storylines, and the characters – like Captain Price, Soap, Ghost, and Alex – these are complicated humans,” Berg said. “These are not […] cartoon characters or comic books. These are very nuanced storylines, there’s a real soul to the Modern Warfare universe. Yes, there’s violence, and there’s hardware, and equipment, and there’s killing – but underneath it I think the game, and the [creators] of the game, are really looking at the cost of war, the cost of having to be a warrior who’s, for whatever reason, chosen to put himself between real danger and the rest of us, and the burden that these guys carry.”

Berg said the two of them are focused on the “soul” of Call of Duty’s story of soldiers.

“There’s a soul underneath it, that I understand, that Taylor Sheridan understands,” the director said. “There will be a very strong soul, and [the] consequence of war within the film…”

Activision and Paramount announced plans for a big-budget Call of Duty movie in 2025. They promised to deliver “what fans love about the iconic series, while boldly expanding the franchise to entirely new audiences.”

Rob Kostich, president of Activision, said at the time: “The film will honor and expand upon what has made this franchise great in the first place.” He added, “Our shared goal is quite simple — to create an unforgettable blockbuster movie experience that our community loves, and one that also excites and inspires new fans of the franchise.”

Call of Duty has been more than 10 years in the making

Activision has flirted with bringing Call of Duty to the big screen for more than a decade. In 2015, the publisher formed Activision Blizzard Studios to adapt Activision Blizzard’s properties into film and TV projects. One of the first projects announced was a “robust cinematic universe” based on Call of Duty.

At one point, Stefano Sollima was lined up to direct. He directed Sicario: Day of the Soldado from a Sheridan script. That version of the Call of Duty project collapsed.

Call of Duty is slated to reach theaters on June 30, 2028. It will face competition from another modern-military game franchise, in the form of a Battlefield movie from director Christopher McQuarrie and star Michael B. Jordan.

Berg’s The Mosquito Bowl arrives in theaters on Oct. 30 and starts streaming on Netflix on Nov. 25.

Related: The Call of Duty movie finally gets a release date

Source: Polygon