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After working for years in comics, writer Donny Cates and artist Geoff Shaw had seemingly overnight success with their creator-owned series God Country in 2017 with Image Comics. That success led to successful careers at Marvel Comics and a movie deal with Legendary Pictures and Netflix that included Cates as co-writer of the actual film. Announced pre-pandemic, pre-writers strike, and pre- a lot of things we (and Donny) went through, Cates tells Popverse that the project isn't dead - it's still cooking.

"The writer’s strike of 20-whatever slowed that down, and COVID happened. Shut that down. And I think the director got on something else," Cates tells Popverse's Dave Buesing.

God Country is an urban fantasy series set in rural Texas, following a dementia-ridden widower (an old coot, in Southern parlance) named Emmett Quinlan who gets a second chance at life after a tornado levels his home and leaves him with an enchanted sword that reinvigorates him mentally and physically - just in time to fend off otherworldly creatures out to get him and the whole world with it.

"I think they honestly think it's happening," Cates says, referring to the producers on the movie, Legendary Entertainment. "They re-up the option every year, and so I can get paid for it." 

The "something else" that God Country director/co-writer Jim Mickle (Sweet Tooth) got drawn into is a live-action movie adaptation of the Gundam anime, also with Legendary, with a plan to begin filming this year. 

While Mickle is busy with this other project, Cates hasn't left God County in the past - he has an idea for a sequel, but he's hesitant to get serious about it so as not to disturb the movie adaptation.

"I have an idea for a sequel I kind of want to do. I'm probably not gonna do it because I don't wanna fuck it up. But I guess just know I have one," Cates says with a laugh. 

This would be the second continuation - and first sequel - to God Country, as his webcomic series The One You Feed with artist Dylan Burnett was stated in 2020 to Newsarama's George Marston was "connected to God Country in some way."

You can read Popverse's full interview with Donny Cates here.

Get ready for what's next with our guide to upcoming comics, how to buy comics at a comic shop, and our guide to Free Comic Book Day 2025.