Warning: SPOILERS for Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire are ahead!
Rebel Moon boasts a stacked cast filled with names like Sofia Boutella, Charlie Hunnam, Dijon Hounsou and Cary Elwes, but one of the actors we don’t actually see in this recent addition to the Netflix movie schedule is Anthony Hopkins, The Silence of the Lambs alum participates in Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire as the voice of JC-1435, a.k.a. Jimmy, the last of a race of robotic knights that once defended the royalty of this universe. The first half of director Zack Snyder’s sci-fi epic ended things on a strange note for Jimmy, and writer Kurt Johnstad, who penned the script with Snyder and Shay Hatten, shared with CinemaBlend how Rebel Moon’s extended cut will address the robot’s backstory.
In addition to Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver arriving to Netflix subscribers next April, director’s cuts of both Rebel Moon movies will be released, although it hasn’t been announced yet when the first of these will come out. When I asked Johnstad during our interview about what the significance was of Jimmy wearing a crown of horns at the end of A Child of Fire, while he didn’t directly answer that question, he did say there will be more Jimmy scenes in the extended version, along with more fleshing out of this sci-fi universe’s lore. The writer explained:
Well, you will definitely see in the extended cut a lot more Jimmy. And I may be off, but at least 45 minutes to an hour-length for the extended cut, so it’ll probably run three hours+, and the same with Movie 2, the extended cut. And those movies aren’t locked yet, Zack was actually working on them today, so he continues to refine them. But there’s definitely a lot more of the Motherworld, a lot more of the understanding of the mythology in the extended cuts. The rating probably will go up to an R, I’m assuming. It’s going to be a lot more character, a lot more probably action and sex and violence and all the kinds of things that some people like in their movies.
For those who either haven’t seen the first half of the Rebel Moon tale yet or already need a refresher, Anthony Hopkins’ Jimmy (who was physically portrayed by Dustin Ceithamer on set) was activated on the moon of Veldt to help the Imperium soldiers left behind by the ruthless Atticus Noble to keep an eye on the villagers in the farming colony until he returns. While it’s initially revealed that Jimmy has taken a vow of nonviolence ever since the king and his family were slain and Regent Balisarius took control of The Motherworld, Jimmy came in to help Kora and Private Aris protect the farm girl Sam from being raped by the other Imperium soldiers. Jimmy shoots the leader, then disappeared.
As for why Jimmy was wearing that crown in the Veldt wilderness by the time A Child of Fire is over, evidently we’ll have to wait to see Rebel Moon’s director’s cut, which Zack Snyder described as a “different movie,” to learn that answer, though it’s unclear if The Scargiver’s “main” cut will also shed light on the matter for those who don’t check out the extended version. Regardless, Kurt Johnstad also mentioned during our conversation that in addition to seeing more of this particular Jimmy model, the second Rebel Moon movie will also delve deeper into the roles the Jimmy robots once filled. As he put it:
Yeah, so the Jimmy part, to really put a point on your question, is that you will see a lot more of Jimmy. You’ll hear more of the history of the Jimmys and where they come from. There’s a story to be told where they were the protectors of the Princess Issa. There was a core group of them, kind of like the Knights of the Round Table. But there’s a lot of really expansive lore and canon that we’ve created hundreds and hundreds of pages and a thousand dead kings of history so we can go backwards and forwards if we’re lucky enough to in success.
After centuries of warfare, the birth of Princess Issa seemingly signaled that the time for The Motherworld’s redemption, as the young girl possessed the supernatural ability to heal and resurrection. We didn’t learn in this shorter cut of Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire what specifically happened to the Jimmy robots after they failed to protect Issa and the rest of the royal family, but clearly the vow of nonviolence wasn’t an unbreakable portion of the Jimmy played by Anthony Hopkins if he was able to dispense lethal action to save Sam. I’ll also be curious to see if any other Jimmy models either in the director’s cut or in The Scargiver, whether it’s through flashbacks or another one of these robots is reactivated.
While we wait for more news about Rebel Moon: Part One’s director’s cut and what awaits in Part Two (some of which has already been teased in the trailer), look through the lineup of best movies on Netflix and best shows on Netflix if you’re interested in more content on the platform.
