Duncan Jones talks Warcraft franchise hopes

Duncan Jones has been discussing his upcoming fantasy epic, Warcraft, with Chinese movie site Mtime, outlining what we can expect from the new film and explaining his hopes for a long-running franchise.

“From the moment I first talked to Blizzard,” says Jones, “the plan was to start our film with the first time Orcs met Humans. First contact! I think that for a world with so much newness to explain, this was a wise choice, especially when so many people in our audience may not know anything about Warcraft.”

“It was important that some of our characters would be seeing the world fresh as well,” he continues, “and that the audience could see the situation through their eyes.”

“A Warcraft film should not be about a good race of humans battling an evil race of orcs! Warcraft should be about heroes on both sides trying to avoid a conflict, when villains leave them no choice.”

And as for whether there will be more films to come after this opening salvo, Jones points to The Fellowship Of The Ring as the touchstone he is attempting to emulate…

“Peter Jackson did a magnificent job of ‘setting the table’ for Tolkein’s universe with his first Lord Of The Rings film,” says Jones. “I know that my job in this first film is to establish certain characters, places and culture while telling a story that a broad audience can be excited by!”

“Hopefully, if I have done my job right, people will want to know and see more! There is certainly plenty more to tell. I would love to be part of that process of expanding on the lore that makes up Warcraft, but it will all depend on what you, the audience, think of our first film!”

Co-starring Toby Kebbell, Paula Patton and Dominic Cooper, Warcraft will open in the US and US on 11 March 2016.

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.