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The Russo bros directed Fortnite Season 6's cinematic and killed Peely (again)

It wasn't just Epic Games behind the amazingly chaotic opening cinematic of Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 6. Anthony and Joe Russo directed that trailer.

TJ Denzer

March 17, 2021 1:06 PM

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Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 6 is off to the races in full stride, and it has a fantastic cinematic trailer to thank for its start. The opening cinematic for Season 6 was a ridiculously fun display that saw some of our favorite characters from Fortnite and pop culture at large battle it out in wacky fracas. But we don’t just have Epic Games to thank for that season opening. Epic swung for the fences and tapped the director talents of the Russo brothers to put the Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 6 opening trailer together.

The involvement of the Russos in the recent Fortnite Season 6 trailer was revealed in an exclusive on The Verge on March 17, 2021. The trailer opened up Season 6 on March 16, giving us a fantastic look at what we’ve had so far and what’s to come. Sarah Conner and Ellen Ripley fought Terminators and Xenomorphs. Cat man Meowscles threw hands (paws?) with a Predator. Peely was horribly obliterated into ‘nanner goop by a deadly Hadouken from Street Fighter’s Ryu (who was promptly hit by a rocket). And we have Anthony and Joe Russo to thank for all of it.

Joe and Anthony Russo are pretty big fans of Fortnite and this isn’t the first time they’ve leapt at a chance to collaborate with Epic Games on content. The Russos have been said to play the game in their downtime and it previously led to calls that allowed for the crossover between Fortnite and Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War, which saw Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet make an appearance in the game with a limited-time mode. Quite a bit of time and seasons have passed since that original engagement, but clearly the Russos still have love for what Fortnite is doing. We don’t know why they had to destroy poor Peely, but given that regular Fortnite center character Jonesy has pasted Peely himself in the past, it’s also not the first time the banana man has met a mushy fate.

Either way, the Russo bros. most certainly made a mark with their trailer to launch this recent Fortnite season. It was a perfect storm of the mashup of universes coming to the game and Jonesy’s ongoing narrative. And given how this trailer turned out, as well as Fortnite Season 6: Primal's inclusion of more solo-based narrative content, we can only hope we get even more collaborations between the Russos and Epic Games in the cards for future content.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.