Brian K. Vaughan to Pen 'Gundam' Movie for Legendary

Brian K. Vaughan, the mind behind popular comic series such as Y: The Last Man and Saga, has been tapped by Legendary Entertainment to pen its live-action Gundam movie, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The original Gundam series, which began in 1979, is set in the Universal Century, an era in which people have emigrated to space colonies because of a growing population on Earth. Eventually, the people living in the colonies seek their autonomy and launch a war of independence against the people on Earth. Battles are fought by piloting robots known as mobile suits. 

The massively popular series has led to multibillion-dollar sales in merchandise and licensing, including animated films, video games, plastic models, toys and books. (Gundam had a cameo in Steven Spielberg's pop-culture-obsessed Ready Player One.)

Legendary will co-produce a feature based on the popular anime from the Japanese animation studio Sunrise. Vaughan in December inked a three-year overall deal with Legendary for both TV and film to adapt his work and create new titles.

Up next for the creator is FX's series adaptation of Y, on which he serves as an executive producer. Vaughn is repped by Verve and Ziffren Brittenham.