Not many people in the U.S. will know that Luc Besson’slavish new scifi epic , Valérian and the City of a Thousand planet , is actually yet another movie adjustment of a stumble mirthful Word . This is chiefly because Valerian the comic was never a hit in the U.S. , although it ’s been one of Europe ’s considerably - loved scifi series for nearly 50 years . desire to sleep with more about the story behind the motion-picture show , and the universe it inhabits ? Here ’s everything you call for to live about Valérian .

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Enter Valérian

Since it was make by fabled French comic author Pierre Christin and his lifelong supporter artist Jean - Claude Mézières in 1967 , Valérian — which has conk out through several name changes , from Valérian , Spatio - Temporal Agent , to Valérian and Laureline , to simply Valérian — has been one of the most popular Franco - Belgian funnies in Europe . The epical - length serial first got publish in the page of Pilote , a large Gallic comics powder store that also featured renowned series like Asterix and Blueberry , and ran for 21 volume before it ultimately came to an end in 2010 .

While attempt to bring the entire series to the U.S. have stalled and failed several times over the last 50 year , the serial has made some noticeable influence in Western scifi . Although rarely acknowledged officially , it ’s long been believe thatthe series had a major influence on the creation of Star Wars , and more pointedly , Luc Besson ’s other scifi moving picture classic , Fifth Element , wears its Valérian influence proudly on its sleeve — but that ’s because Mézières actually worked with Besson on the pic , while solicit him to also lend Valérian to life on the big screen .

Valérian and Laureline

Pretty much since it set forth , Valérian has focused on its two protagonists : twenty-eighth - century human Valérian , an land - born agent of the Terran Empire ’s Spatio - Temporal Service , and Laureline , a peasant from 11th 100 France who saves Valérian while he ’s on a mission and is get to the 28th one C to be trained as a spatio - worldly agentive role herself .

That ’s veracious : while it ’s not just explicit in the first trailer , Valérian and Laureline are actually time travelers . Initially , they work for the Spatio - Temporal Service , going on secret missions through metre and blank to guard the timeline , but finally , after the capital of the Terran Empire is mysteriously removed from time and space , they become freelance adventurers , offering their services in an endeavour to line up Valérian ’s lost home .

The movie seems to give Valérian and Laureline a coquettish partnership , so we do n’t get to really see much of the relationship that define their partnership in the comic ; Laureline , removed from the context of growing up in the Terran Empire , was often the more rebellious of the two , questioning the federal agency of the Spatio - Temporal Service and their missions , while Valérian , the typical directly - border Italian sandwich , was unremarkably loyal to a fault , leading to a few moments of headbutting between the partners in their earlier escapade .

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Alpha, the City of a Thousand Planets

Alpha , the unsparing setting of the movie seen throughout the trailer , is n’t really a setting from the comics , but it is likely based on Point Central , a recurring locating throughout several volumes in the series . Like Alpha , Point Central is a “ city of a thousand planet . ” Well , more like a space place of a thousand planets .

build at a crossroad of intergalactic trade in the coltsfoot , Point Central is home to countless exotic races , including representatives of mankind . Each different species that comes to Point Central finally builds their own surroundings to attach to the station , tailored to their own biology and homeworld , creating a massive hub of dissimilar biosphere and environment . These alien race lean to stick to their own hub of Point Central in the cartoon strip , only communicating with other cabal on the place through a primal confluence area call the Hall of Screens to square up dissension . Valérian and Laureline journey to many different sections of Point Central over the course of their comics adventures , and the trailer might give us a few looks at some of the species that call the place home .

The first picture show creatures we see are called the Kortan Dahuk , who do n’t appear in the comics but have a few similarities to a character predict Kistna from Valérian ’s 13th volume , On the Frontiers :

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

These aquatic creatures are the Marmaka , one of the species see on Point Central in volume six , Ambassador of the Shadows :

These tool seen attacking Valérian and Laureline might mayhap be adaptation of the Kamuniks , who in the comics were warrior - Centaurus allied with Earth with a abode on Point Central :

And while we do n’t see them in the laggard , we do know of another famous Valérian alien come along in the film : The Shingouz , a leash of information factor from a raceway of sneaky spies .

William Duplessie

How Much Is the Movie Based on the Comics?

It ’d be impossible to conform the integrality of Valérian to the bad screen door , butBesson has confirmedthat the movie will loosely be based on the 6th volume of the comedian , Ambassador of the Shadows , first publish in 1975 , and also the first volume of Valérian to be translate into English . That makes a lot of sense , given what we ’ve see in the drone , and considering the activity focuses a lot on the setting of Point Central , or “ Alpha ” as it is in the movie , which first appeared in Ambassadors of the Shadows .

In the comic , the story follows Valérian and Laureline work with an Earth embassador on the station , before slowly notice that the various races living there are being manipulated behind the scene by mysterious aliens know only as the Shadows . This shoot from the laggard seems to match theShadow ’s appearance in the comicvery closely :

While the informant material might not be that well known in the U.S. it ’s clear from what we ’ve seen of Besson ’s movie , it ’s borrow quite a lot from Christin and Mézières ’ iconic piece of work . So when Valérian and the City of a Thousand Planet hit theaters next year—50 years after Valérian , Spatio - Temporal Agent first came to French magazine shelves — U.S. fans will eventually be able to start to explore one of Europe ’s self-aggrandizing scifi strip ever , and the wandflower of new adventures it contains .

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