CHARLESTON — Triple-threat actor, comedian and writer Danny McBride is stepping behind the camera once again, this time to direct the next “G.I. Joe” movie for Paramount.
As the Hasbro characters used to say, “Now you know.”
The Wrap first reported the news that McBride, who lives on Sullivan’s Island with his wife and two children and previously said he is a huge fan of the franchise, also wrote the script.
Most know the actor from his stints in front of the camera on shows like Charleston-filmed “The Righteous Gemstones” and “Eastbound and Down,” as well as movies “Pineapple Express” and “Tropic Thunder.” But McBride has a laundry list of projects he’s worked on behind the scenes, including directing various TV shows and serving as writer and executive producer for the rebooted “Halloween” trilogy.
“G.I. Joe” marks his directorial debut of a feature film.
The movie is the franchise’s first installment under Paramount Skydance following the 2025 merger between Skydance Media and Paramount Global. The global media company is taking another chance on everyone’s favorite “Real American Hero” after the lackluster run of “Snake Eyes” in 2021 that starred Henry Golding and grossed a meager $40 million worldwide. It reportedly cost $88 million to produce.
More than a decade earlier in comparison, Paramount’s first live-action “G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra,” which was directed by Stephen Sommers in 2009, grossed $302 million.
McBride, who also recently became a New York Times bestselling author with his book “Thrilling Tales of Modern Men,” brings a track record of success to the “G.I. Joe” project. He’s been nominated for several Primetime Emmy and Critics Choice Awards and won a Writers Guild Award. He also simply loves the G.I. Joe brand.
Hasbro released the very first G.I. Joe toys on February 1, 1964, and an animated show 20 years later reignited the character for a new generation.
“It was definitely the cartoons and the comics. G.I. Joe was my thing when I was a kid,” McBride said on a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “I liked that more than ‘Star Wars,’ more than anything. I loved G.I. Joe. I still have all the characters.”
He added that the movie will follow the character Duke and several other Joes in the town of Springfield, which the fictional and villainous organization Cobra has a foothold in.
MSN said that McBride is looking to tap his actor friends to star in the movie. Filming is set to begin in 2027.
McBride is also the co-founder of creative company Rough House Pictures with David Gordon Green and Jody Hill. They moved the venture from Los Angeles to Charleston in 2017.