Danny McBride directs the franchise's first feature since 2013, casting Cooper in a clean-slate reimagining set inside Cobra's secret town of Springfield.

Bradley Cooper is set to star as Conrad "Duke" Hauser in a new G.I. Joe film at Paramount Pictures. Danny McBride is directing and co-writing the screenplay alongside Jeff Fradley and John Carcieri. According to The Wrap, Cooper committed to the role after reading the script and meeting with McBride.

The film is a clean-slate reimagining. A previously planned crossover with the Transformers franchise has been abandoned. The story centers on Duke and a unit of Joes moving through Springfield, a fictional American town with a hidden Cobra presence. "You're following Duke and a group of other Joes," McBride told The Wrap. "There's that town in the comics, Springfield, which is a town that's secretly all Cobra. That is where our film takes place."

Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, and Zev Foreman are producing for Hasbro Entertainment. The franchise's comics line has been revived under publisher Skybound, with Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman overseeing the property.

The last G.I. Joe film, 2021's Snake Eyes, earned $40 million worldwide. The two earlier theatrical entries — 2009's The Rise of Cobra ($302 million) and 2013's Retaliation ($376 million) — were both produced by di Bonaventura. Cooper's casting is the franchise's most prominent lead since Channing Tatum's Duke in the original films.