It’s been just over a month since the release of the multiplayer FPS game Starship Troopers: Extermination and already fans of the IP have been gifted with another game. This time, a VR game, titled Starship Troopers: Continuum. And just as the star of Paul Verhoeven’s brilliant 1997 film, Casper Van Dien, is set to provide voice-over work for Extermination‘s upcoming single-player element, he’s lent his voice and likeness to Continuum.
Van Dien sat down with our own Chris Killian to discuss the VR game and his experience not only making it but playing it as well. The conversation then turned to other potential adventures in the universe for the actor. For instance, a reboot series on a major streamer.
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In Killian’s words, “One thing I wanted to ask with this idea of these big budget legacy sequels becoming such a fad….Has there ever been talks of Starship Troopers getting, like, a big budget sequel…? I mean, because it feels like it’s more relevant today than it has been in a long, long time.” Van Dien replied with: “You know, there’s been a resurgence of Starship Troopers, even, you know, aside from the other films that we did that were smaller and everything like this, there’s been a huge resurgence. I think it’s due to the video games and, you know, like holdovers to Starship Troopers, Extermination, and now Continuum.”
Van Dien then delved into the impact of Verhoeven’s ever-relevant (to an unfortunate degree) ’90s classic. As he put it: “I think there’s been a resurgence of people revisiting this movie. And unfortunately, the political commentary is still relevant today. And I think that is an interesting, you know, praise to the filmmaker [Verhoeven] again because he’s got something that has legs.”
A Still-Relevant Classic & Potentially Expanding Upon It
Next, the actor shed some light on a past attempt to bring General Johnny Rico back. Specifically, a series with Robert Rodriguez that would have been titled Old Man Rico. Unfortunately, not unlike 2017’s Syfy reboot of Tremors, the project never got off the ground (though, in the case of Tremors, a pilot was shot then the series was not picked up).
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But Van Dien still sees potential and still feels hope. “I’ve been putting it out on my streams…to get Sony’s attention and make the Starship Troopers movie or TV series [reboot]. I think it would be great for a series…The visual effects today would be a huge win for Sony if they could make a series out of this.” The actor then elaborated on the renewed interest he’s seen at various conventions and the fact that the franchise’s lead is not only interested but enthused. As Van Dien put it: “Why wouldn’t you make this? It’d be great.”
Starship Troopers: Continuum is now available on Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3S, and Meta Quest 2, and arrives on PlayStation VR2 on November 25th, 2024.
