Never let it be said that Zack Snyder is afraid to take risks. Yesterday, the new trailer for his upcoming space opera film duology Rebel Moon dropped, and it looks absolutely epic.
The story takes place on a remote planet primarily used for growing wheat to feed an evil ruling force known as the Mother World. Is it evil? From the looks of it, yes: we see clips of brutal fighting, soldiers being killed and a nasty-looking baddie played by Ed Skrein, called Admiral Atticus Noble.
“When you look at Noble, you see the harshest type of military savageness,” Skrein told Netflix website Tudum. “You see a ruthless, cold man who has chosen horror over morality for the directness of it. In a world where morality is waning, he has cast morality aside in the name of ambition.”
As for our inevitable plucky band of heroes? They’re led by Kora (Sofia Boutella), who looks to have been a soldier for the Mother World’s army before defecting and fleeing to this backwater planet. But it seems trouble is about to find her, and all hell is about to break loose.
Joining her in what will presumably be an epic battle against the Mother World is an absolutely stellar cast, including Anthony Hopkins (who plays a sentient robot), Charlie Hunnam (best known for his appearance in Sons of Anarchy), Cary Elwes, Jena Malone, Doona Bae, Michiel Huisman, Djimon Hounsou, and Ray Fisher.
Though the trailer doesn’t reveal much in the way of plot, we do see glimpses of the show’s massive and intricate mythology, creatures that look rather like hippogriffs, Jena Malone playing a gigantic spider woman and multiple types of slightly gnarly-looking aliens. It couldn’t be more Snyder if it tried.
The first instalment of the duology is titled Rebel Moon: Child of Fire and will be dropping on Netflix on December 22. The second, entitled Rebel Moon: The Scargiver, will follow on April 19.
This project has been more than twenty years in the making for Snyder. “This is me growing up as an Akira Kurosawa fan, a Star Wars fan,” he told The Hollywood Reporter back in 2021. “It’s my love of sci-fi and a giant adventure. My hope is that this also becomes a massive IP and a universe that can be built out.”
Given that this is a Snyder film, there is of course also action galore: Boutella’s character Kora goes up against at least five soldiers with nothing more than an axe, multiple spaceships blow up and her lover appears to die in her arms during one of the trailer’s flashback sequences.
To put it bluntly: we can’t wait to see more, and it seems that Snyder sceptics agree. “Not a Snyder fan in the slightest, so it genuinely is insane I’m not only interested but downright excited for this! His love of Seven Samurai, Star Wars, and sci-fi fantasy comics coming together for something this passionate, strange, and creative! I’m pumped!” one wrote on YouTube. “You finally found a way to get me, Zack. Heck yeah!”
“Finally, something original and not a re-boot or re-do!” another added. “And it looks pretty epic! Finally something worth going to the theatres to see.”
Hard agree.
