Borderlands 4 narrative director reveals his biggest uncertainty, and looking at the script, yeah, I get it: “The crowd falls apart like that guy in the cube that gets cubed in the movie Cube”

This week, Gearbox commenced a series of in-depth character explorations for Borderlands 4 with an exquisitely gruesome story trailer for new Siren Vault Hunter Vex, and the game’s narrative director indicates that the bloody scene was his greatest uncertainty while working on the project.

Vex’s backstory initiates at “Mass Market Appeal,” a kind of doomcore mercenary market where she is compelled to sell firearms and $20 two-year warranties, when all of a sudden, a Black Friday-style sale is declared, causing chaos.

“I hear in this one, a guy gets sliced in half sideways, and you can see his brain and stuff,” Vex inadvertently predicts to her obvious work crush, who will soon become the cut-in-half victim due to her newly and unknowingly activated Siren abilities, which transform the whole store into a catastrophically disordered butcher shop.

Anyway, it’s a rather crazy scene, and Borderlands 4 narrative director Sam Winkler believes it’s the segment of the script he was most reluctant to submit.

“This was likely the most significant ‘I have no clue what’s going to happen when I submit this script’ moment for me on this project,” Winkler mentions on Twitter.

The highlight of all this is the portion of the script Winkler shares that elucidates the events of the scene.

“SHING. The scythes descend once. Twice. Three times! Then… the crowd disintegrates like that guy in the cube who gets cubed in the movie Cube,” states the actual, real-life Borderlands 4 script, alluding to the 1997 sci-fi horror film Cube, where a guy in a cube gets cubed.

Of course, Winkler’s anxiety regarding the script proved to be unfounded, as Gearbox proceeded to bring the scene to fruition without compromise. Additionally, Gearbox leader Randy Pitchford responded to Winkler’s tweets, stating, “You nailed this one, Sam. It was a blast having all of us back in the writer’s room to crack this. You absolutely nailed this script!”

If there’s a lesson to be gleaned from this, it’s that aspiring screenwriters should wholeheartedly embrace their most unrestrained instincts and hope for the best, particularly when their boss is Randy Pitchford.