Borderlands Movie Casts Ariana Greenblatt As Tiny Tina

The Borderlands movie is moving along with its casting process. It has already chosen people to play Roland, Lilith, Dr Tannis and Claptrap. And the latest addition to the list is Tiny Tina, who will be played by Ariana Greenblatt. The announcement came via Gearbox CEO and Borderlands co-creator Randy Pitchford on his Twitter account.

For anyone who needs an introduction to Tiny Tina, Borderlands 2 introduced her as the “World’s Deadliest 13 Year Old”. And sure enough, the character has a strange passion for explosives. That aside, let’s just say she has a less-than-stable mental state. Though the inclusion of the character would mean that the Borderlands movie isn’t necessarily based on the first game anymore.

I must also say, I’m not familiar enough with Greenblatt’s work to be able to decide if she’s a good fit for the Borderland movie. Her most notable film role was as a young Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War. But she’s also starred in The One and Only Ivan, and Love and Monsters. Both of which I have not seen.

But it wouldn’t really be surprising either way. The Borderlands movie already has a checkered casting history, short as it is. So with Ariana Greenblatt and Tiny Tina, it could really go either way.

Borderlands Movie To Cast Jamie Lee Curtis As Dr Tannis

The Borderlands movie is a weird one when it comes to casting. It has already cast comedian Kevin Hart as the stoic Soldier Roland. Now, the people behind the movie have gone for another strange casting decision with Dr Tannis. In what can only be described as curveball casting, they’ve gone for Jamie Lee Curtis for the role.

For context, Dr Patricia Tannis is an NPC in all three Borderlands games, playing important side roles in all. She is an archeologists studying the Eridian artifacts in the game universe. Her mental state is also on the border between sanity and insanity, having suffered a number of psychological breakdowns due to the harsh environment of the planet Pandora, and the death of most of her fellow researchers.

On one hand, no doubt Jamie Lee Curtis will be able to play the mentally fragile Dr Tannis. But on the other, unless there are plans for intensive CG trickery, she doesn’t have a convincing enough Dr Tannis look. Not as jarring a difference as with Kevin Hart and Roland, but a jarring difference nevertheless.

That makes the third major character getting cast for the Borderlands movie. Two more playable characters, Mordecai and the Brick, remain.

Kevin Hart Cast As Roland For Borderlands Movie

We first heard reports of a Borderlands movie last year, which will be directed by Eli Roth. There hasn’t been much in terms of development since. But 11 months later, the people behind the film has decided on who to play Roland: Kevin Hart.

The Hollywood Reporter quotes Roth as saying “Borderlands is a different kind of role for him, and we are excited to thrill audiences with a side of Kevin they’ve never seen before”. Which is a very accurate description of the disparity between Roland as a character and Kevin Hart as an actor.

For context, Roland is the Soldier-class character for the first Borderlands game. He’s generally a stoic, serious and no-nonsense character. Which is the opposite of what Kevin Hart is famous for. And that’s before we get to the physical differences. But Roth is confident that Kevin is “going to be an amazing Roland”.

At any rate, this makes the second character getting cast for the Borderlands movie. The first was Cate Blanchett, who will play the role of the Siren Lilith. Considering only two of the four main playable characters have been cast, never mind the villains and side characters, it’s going to be a while before the film gets released.