Summary
- Jack Quaid expressed interest in starring in the BioShock film at Netflix, sparking speculation.
- Quaid's acting talents align well with the satire and intense atmosphere of the Helldivers franchise.
- Quaid's diverse acting resume, from action-comedy to sci-fi, showcases his ability to potentially star in a CGI-heavy film like Helldivers.
Jack Quaid caused a bit of a stir a few days ago when he suggested that his dream role would be to star in the upcoming film adaptation of the 2007 video game BioShock currently in the works at Netflix. That got the internet going, and it hasn't really stopped since.
While Quaid would be an undoubtedly solid choice to play the lead in Netflix's BioShock film, it's hard to say what that movie will even end up looking like. Will it be a straight adaptation of the first BioShock game's story? Will it be a prequel story highlighting the rise and fall of the underwater utopia of Rapture? Could it even be a retelling of BioShock 2's multiplayer mode, set during the Rapture civil war that brought the city crashing back into reality? Nobody knows. And in the days since announcing his love of BioShock, people across the internet have been fan-casting Quaid as the titular character of the Max Payne series. Yeah, Quaid certainly looks like the original Max Payne model—Remedy Entertainment's Sam Lake—and Novocaine has proven he might make a better Payne than Mark Wahlberg ever did. The truth is neither Bioshock nor Max Payne fit Jack Quaid's particular acting talents as well as another upcoming video game adaptation.
Helldivers’ Movie Adaptation Has a Layup Regarding Its Narrative Direction
Helldivers has an adaptation in the works and while it could feasibly have a loose, unimportant story, it could also lean heavily on Helldivers 2.
Back at CES 2025, Sony announced that the Helldivers franchise would be getting a film adaptation sometime in the near future. Sony has been ramping up production on these adaptations lately, with the Uncharted and Gran Turismo movies already having been released and The Last of Us and Twisted Metal series both slated to air their second seasons this year. Helldivers joins the likes of Horizon Zero Dawn and Ghost of Tsushima in Sony's film production pipeline and though it is still early days for the movie, Jack Quaid could be the perfect actor to lead the big-screen adaptation.
Helldivers Could Use A Dose Of Jack Quaid's Everyman Charm & Satire
For the uninitiated, Helldivers is a franchise set in a far-flung future where the human forces of Super Earth are ordered by their pseudo-democratic government to wipe out three different extraterrestrial races in the Terminids (aka Bugs), the Automatons (descendants of the Cyborgs), and the Illuminate. Much like one particular 1997 cult classic, the Helldivers games use the setting and gameplay to lampoon rampant fascism and authoritarianism. If terminology like "the Ministry of Truth" and "Democracy Officers" don't make that readily apparent to you, then you're simply not paying close enough attention. Citizens of Super Earth can only vote by using "computer-aided voting software" where said program ultimately decides who and what you're voting for. Helldivers is ostensibly Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers turned up to eleven.
If there has ever been an actor in tune with what Helldivers is going for, it's Jack Quaid. By virtue of being a lead character in The Boys alone, it's clear he has the chops for intense satire. Quaid's Hughie Campbell is the everyman character thrust into the middle of the action on The Boys and the satirical superhero drama has given him plenty of cause to emote all across the acting spectrum over the years. The inciting incident of the show is Hughie's girlfriend getting accidentally ripped to shreds by the speedster A-Train. Hughie's subsequent PTSD and harrowing headfirst dive into the world Billy Butcher showcases Quaid in incredible light.
Novocaine, Companion, And Star Trek Prove He's Got The Chops For Helldivers
Jack Quaid is far more than a one-trick pony. After making his acting debut in 2012's The Hunger Games, he has slowly but steadily built an impressive acting resume that shows his range. How many actors can say they've worked in films as diverse as Logan Lucky, Scream, and Oppenheimer? He's a prominent voice actor as well, voicing Richie Rich on Harvey Girls Forever! And the Man of Steel himself on My Adventures with Superman. Of course, if Helldivers is going to be a satire, then one has to look no further than his three biggest non-The Boys roles: Novocaine, Companion, and Star Trek: Lower Decks.
The recently-released Novocaine stars Quaid as, get this, a man named Nathan Caine who literally cannot feel pain. The action-comedy garnered solid reviews on the back of Quaid star performance that handles the laughs and the fight scenes. Companion, a sci-fi thriller starring Sophie Thatcher as a killer robot, sees Quaid playing a darker version of his usual type of character. Then there is Star Trek: Lower Decks. Quaid's Brad Boimler is an ambitious rule-follower doing his best to climb to the top of the Starfleet command chain. The purple-haired Boimler is a lot like Quaid's Hughie in that it takes a braver character—in this case, Tawny Newsome's Beckett Mariner—to get him to come out of his shell. Put the action-comedy of Novocaine, the social satire of Companion, and the sci-fi bent of Star Trek: Lower Decks together and you get a concoction that begins to sound a lot like Helldivers.
Sony launching a new action franchise with the relatively unheralded Jack Quaid as its lead star doesn't seem all that likely. Helldiver is sure to be a CGI-heavy production with a massive budget. Would Sony Pictures Entertainment actually gamble a film as large as this on Quaid? Probably not, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a match made in heaven.
- Date Founded
- May 7, 1946
- Headquarters
- Minato City, Tokyo, Japan
- Subsidiaries
- Sony Pictures, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Imagesoft, Sony Online Entertainment
- Consoles
- PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PSP
- Known For
- PlayStation