The first real plot and character details about the forthcoming Warcraft movie were revealed in a panel at BlizzCon 2013 on Saturday, alongside the showcasing of several pieces of concept art for major locations. The artwork, showing Orcish homeworld Draenor; Dalaran, a floating city ruled by magi; the dwarvish capital Ironforge; and Alliance stronghold Stormwind City, gives a clear indication of the kinds of characters we are likely to meet.

Taking its cue from the events of the first two games, the plot will be a story detailing the first contact between humans and orcs, and will feature significant characters involved in the conflict such as human general Anduin Lothar and orc chieftain Durotan.

With the world of Warcraft being so expansive, an initial problem was attempting to identify themes universal to the various races and factions. Originally (and somewhat predictably) the script was heavily focused on the Alliance, but was gradually retooled to portray a more balanced tale and present both sides of the conflict equally. This served to avoid disregarding how many people would have played the game and give it a central theme of “being a hero no matter what side you’re on.”

Fans are predictably apprehensive about the adaptation, with many believing that the universe is too intricate and complex to do justice to in a single film. However, director Duncan Jones’ (Moon, Source Code) record of intelligent genre filmmaking, while admittedly brief, should at least partially assuage some fears. 

There is also the well-documented problem with films adapted from computer games generally turning out to be a bit crap, with arguably the best one, Takashi Miike’s hyperkinetic and hyperchromatic slice of batshit insanity Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, for some unfathomable reason never having had a general release outside of Japan. Hopefully Warcraft will finally break the cycle.

WARCRAFT was due to be released December 18th 2015, but given Lucasfilm has chosen that very same day for STAR WARS EPISODE VII, we’d wager a shift to 2016 will be announced very soon. 

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