Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon trailer is out, and it looks good! 

Created by Snyder, Rebel Moon was initially meant to be part of the Star Wars universe, but was dropped due to Disney’s purchase of LucasFilm. He decided to continue with the project and spin it into his own new IP and worked with Netflix to do so. 

“It was [initially] a Star Wars film and I never wanted it to be,” said producer Deborah Snyder during an intimate Rebel Moon press event last week. “I said to Zack, I just feel like your hands are gonna be tied so much with that IP. So I was kinda happy when that fell apart because I always felt like it was better.”

Rebel Moon is an epic science-fantasy about a mysterious stranger, Kora (Sofia Boutella) who has been living with a peaceful colony on the edge of a galaxy. Their lives are threatened when armies of a tyrannical ruling force come into town wreaking havoc. Discovered to be a warrior, Kora is tasked with finding trained fighters to take a stand against the Mother World (the bad guys). She assembles a small band of warriors — outsiders, insurgents, peasants, and orphans of war from different worlds who share a common need for redemption and revenge. 

The film, which spans into two films — Part 1: A Child of Fire on December 22 and Part 2: The Scargiver on April 19, 2024, was initially talked about as a TV series, but was scrapped to become a two-part movie. Zack Snyder says there’s also a Director’s Cut, which he is most famous for doing for all of his films, including Dawn of the Dead, Watchmen, Batman v Superman, and of course Justice League. 

“There’s a great history of Director’s Cuts that are just cool,” said Zack Snyder. “When I was in film school, I always thought that was cool and there was this other movie that you could discover. When you make a movie, you have a lot of voices in your own creative mine telling you what would be the strongest solution and then you have this other tug on you. I do anyway.”

Inspired by the 1981 adult animated science-fantasy anthology film Heavy Metal, Rebel Moon has a much darker and R-rated tone to the story. 

“[Zack] and I bonded over Heavy Metal, which was an R-rated science-fantasy that blew our minds,” said producer Eric Newman. “You’re gonna see that there are a lot of influences that have made [their] way into this film.”

Producer Wes Coller says it was fun working with a blank slate and building this completely new world from the ground up. He credits Netflix for giving them the opportunity to create this project into two films. 

“It’s the culmination of all that we’ve done over the years in terms of storytelling, franchise building, [and] world building,” said Coller. “We were talking about the fact that we were able to do the deep dive with a Genesis story like this creation mythology that starts off the universe. And, then from there, things just roll out and it gives us the time to to build a fabric and inner woven sort of world that begins to answer the questions as we get further down the road and really creates a solid foundation for something that I think is really unique and cool, and I think you guys will enjoy it.”

Rebel Moon stars Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Charlie Hunnam, Michiel Huisman, Staz Nair, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Cleopatra Coleman, E. Duffy, Anthony Hopkins, Jena Malone, Ed Skrein, and Fra Free.

Rebel Moon Part 1: A Child of Fire premieres on December 22 on Netflix.

*This article was written during the WGA and SAG/AFTRA strike. To support the strike, please donate to the Entertainment Community Fund.*