Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura explains why Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins won't incorporate the character's canonical muteness. The action-thriller is being directed by Robert Schwentke on a script from Evan Spiliotopoulos, Joe Shrapnel, and Anna Waterhouse. The film stars Henry Golding in the titular role alongside Andrew Koji as future frenemy Storm Shadow, Úrsula Corberó as The Baroness, Samara Weaving as Scarlett, Iko Uwais as the Hard Master, and Peter Mensah as the Blind Master.

The live-action G.I. Joe film franchise first began in 2009 with The Rise of Cobra, which received generally negative reviews but was enough of a box office success to score a sequel, Retaliation, which received similarly low reviews but strong box office numbers. After years of attempting to figure out how to move the series forward, Paramount elected to take a page from the playbook of its other Hasbro franchise, Transformersand do an origin story for a fan-favorite character that acts as a soft reboot for the series. Though production was completed prior to the pandemic, Snake Eyes ran into multiple release delays due to COVID-19. Now, with a month to go until its arrival, anticipation is building for the film.

Related: Everything We Know About Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins

Franchise producer di Bonaventura recently spoke with Empire to break down the full official trailer for the highly anticipated Snake Eyes. While discussing a number of behind-the-scenes decisions during its development, di Bonaventura confirmed Snake Eyes will not be mute in the film, but is hopeful to revisit the concept later down the road. Read what di Bonaventura had to say below:

"Snake’s injury and his speech issue would be in the next movie, if we're lucky enough to make it. But to make a movie with Snake Eyes in it and not have him in the costume? We would’ve gotten killed by the fans! The question was, how to have the most fun with it. This was the exploration of the human, not the guy in the suit, in a sense, so we hold back the suit until he’s earned it as a character.

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From the first teaser and trailer, many have pointed to the fact that Golding's portrayal of the character isn't afraid to speak or incapable of speaking in the film. With the movie acting as an origin story for the character, it certainly makes sense to see him able to talk when he didn't become mute in the source material until shortly after joining up with G.I. Joe. Though it's not been confirmed whether the military unit will be featured in the film, the first trailer's inclusion of Cobra does help establish the future path for the franchise.

Saving the hero's injury and speech issues for a follow-up to Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins is also a smart move for drawing audiences in. Allowing audiences to better connect to Golding and his portrayal of the character prior to him becoming a commando establishes a better path of character development and connection for newcomers to the series. With just a month to go until the film's release, only time will tell whether fans respond better to a talkative Snake Eyes or a quiet one.

More: Who Is Snake Eyes? G.I. Joe Backstory & History Explained

Source: Empire

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