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Published Jun 8, 2026, 8:06 PM EDT
Matthew Rudoy is one of ScreenRant's Movie & TV News Editors. He covers the latest in movie & TV news, with a focus on major franchises like Star Wars, The Boys, and Game of Thrones, and also writes some features and reviews. He wrote lists for ScreenRant from 2017-2022, became a news writer in 2023, a senior staff writer in 2024, and an editor in 2025.
Jason Momoa is no longer starring in the upcoming Helldivers movie.
It was announced in February that Momoa had been cast in PlayStation Productions and Sony Pictures' live-action adaptation of the popular cooperative third-person shooter game. This came after his role as Garrett "The Garbage Man" Garrison in the 2025 video game adaptation A Minecraft Movie, which grossed $960 million worldwide. Justin Lin is attached to direct the Helldivers movie, which has a theatrical release date of November 10, 2027.
Deadline now reports that Momoa has exited the project, although the reason for his departure is not known yet. The video game adaptation is still in the works, though, and Sony is already actively searching for a new star to lead the film. In addition to Lin directing and producing via his Perfect Storm Entertainment banner, Hutcher Parker is producing with PlayStation Productions' Asad Qizilbash.
The first Helldivers game was released in 2015, with the title referring to an elite group of soldiers who are tasked with protecting Super Earth from alien bugs, cyborgs, and other enemies, along with fighting to keep democracy alive. A sequel, Helldivers II, was released in 2024, and sold more than 12 million copies across PS5 and PC in the first four months after being launched. The game is now available on XBOX as well.
The Helldivers movie's director, Lin, has previously directed The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, two episodes of True Detective season 2, Star Trek Beyond, and F9: The Fast Saga. Given these credits, he is a veteran when it comes to working on established IP, which he will now be doing again by adapting the franchise developed by Arrowhead Game Studios.
As for Momoa, between Supergirl, Street Fighter, and Dune: Part Three, he has three major movies coming to theaters in what remains of 2026, but all of them have wrapped filming. He does have other projects in the works that may contribute to why he had to drop out of Helldivers, including A Minecraft Movie: Squared, as the sequel is currently in the midst of production.
Despite the loss of Momoa, Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions are moving forward with Helldivers and building on their past movie and television series collaborations. They worked together on the 2022 film adaptation of Uncharted, which earned $407 million worldwide against a $120 million budget and became one of the highest-grossing video game movies of all time. Sony and PlayStation have also collaborated on HBO's critically acclaimed The Last of Us series and Peacock's Twisted Metal.
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