'Fortnite' makes Quentin Tarantino's long-awaited unfinished chapter a reality

Quentin Tarantino's fourth film “Kill Bill” was so long that it was split into two separate films: “Kill Bill” Volume 1 and its sequel Volume 2, which were released half a year apart as early as the beginning of the last century. Soon, it will celebrate the re-release of Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, which will splice the film back together and add new scenes. But even with a movie this long, there are some scenes that were left on the cutting room floor. Powered by Epic's Unreal Engine, Tarantino is closing a new chapter in his more than 20-year career.

Completely different from the new scenes found in Whole Bloody Affair, The Lost Chapter: Yuki's Revenge is a roughly 10-minute scene built in Unreal Engine that brings together the Kill Bill series and is surprisingly – or maybe not –fortnite. I recently attended the premiere of “Yuki's Revenge” at the packed Vista Theater in Los Angeles, in the presence of Tarantino and “The Bride” herself, Uma Thurman, who were there to debut this long-lost scene, which has now found a surprising home.

Tarantino explained after the screening that he always thought the scene took place in the canon of the Kill Bill story. “Audiences just didn't see it,” he explained, because at the time it was impossible for the cast and crew to film another bloody fight scene in a movie already filled with them. Film buffs and fans of the director are aware of its absence Looking back many yearsmany hoped it would originally appear in the movie.

Tarantino explained how Epic approached him ahead of Fortnite Chapter 7, interested in seeing if he had any story ideas they could work on for the West Coast and Hollywood-themed Pacific Breakout. Always looking to make a splash—Snoop Dogg and Ice Spice played a surprise concert in Times Square last year—Epic is hoping to debut the famed director's work to promote Fortnite's new chapter, which could span next year if tradition holds.

As it happens, Tarantino revealed to the developer-publisher that he's been sitting on a set he misses dearly for over 20 years. The timing seemed impeccable. The next big thing is coming to Epic. Tarantino will end the book with something he might have given up on making years ago. So, somehow, Fortnite – where nothing is impossible anymore – is now home to a never-before-seen lost chapter in Quentin Tarantino's cinematic history.

Uma Thurman returns to provide voice and facial capture for her starring role, and this vignette plays out much like the rest of the movie, but it's less faithful and I found it the most entertaining. Fortnite doesn't depict gore, and Snow's Revenge doesn't depict gore. Of course, in a production with Tarantino's involvement, the conspicuous lack of profanity seems uncanny. In one of the funniest recurring parts of the chapter, characters other than the Bride and Yuki are depicted by Fortnite originals, like the bipedal Banana Peel and the skeleton soldier, who has a giant bucket of popcorn on his lap and watches the violent women from Kill Bill kick up dust in the streets.

The end result makes for a strange crossover, but one that speaks to Fortnite's unprecedented staying power. Epic has plans to make Fortnite more than just a “battle royale” game, and we're seeing those plans come to fruition on the game's constant update treadmill as the studio continues to rebuild Fortnite like the Ship of Theseus.

Things like Fortnite Festival and Creative Mode illustrate this to a specific audience (those who are already logged in to play the video game). But as the studio continues to explore what Fortnite means not just today, but 10 years from now, this missing chapter in Kill Bill offers another vantage point into the future. Fortnite could be a battle royale game. it can be counter strike. it can be Rock Band, Minecraft or Mario Kart. it can be Ariana Grande concert. This might as well be the 20-year-old missing chapter in Kill Bill. What is Fortnite? Fortnite is increasingly becoming what it wants to be.

Yuki's Revenge will debut in Fortnite on November 30th.