The Rebel Moon Trailer Lets Zack Snyder Go Full Star Wars On Netflix
Director Zack Snyder's tumultuous and frequently headline-grabbing tenure with DC Films might be officially in the rearview mirror, but that doesn't mean he's slowing down one bit. The ever-ambitious blockbuster filmmaker has since pivoted from the super-powered pantheon of heroes to an epic space opera of his own, loosely retrofitted from an original pitch he once had to open up an entirely new corner of the "Star Wars" universe. After months and months of teasing, our first look at footage from "Rebel Moon" is finally upon us ... and it looks every inch as visually spectacular as Snyder's work always has before.
Even the most strident Zack Snyder skeptics have maintained that the man sure knows how to cut together one heck of a trailer, and that's no exception here. We've written before here at /Film about that deeply evocative "Man of Steel" trailer that still plays like gangbusters to this day, firmly establishing the filmmaker as one with a strong grasp of iconography and the power of images. Will "Rebel Moon" take the next step and recreate that feeling effectively for the entirety of its runtime? There's plenty of reason for hope, from the impressive cast to the focus on world-building to the fact that, honestly, those of us with taste simply can't get enough of grand, mythic space epics these days. But enough of my jabbering. Check out the official trailer below!
The Rebel Moon trailer arrives
Zack Snyder doesn't seem to be messing around with "Rebel Moon," the galaxy-spanning drama described as being "decades in the making." The action follows Sofia Boutella's Kora on the eponymous moon colony, filling the prototypical role of an unknown individual destined for greatness — if only it weren't for the unstoppable might of an empire in control of the galaxy. The "Star Wars" parallels are already pretty easy to see, what with the main character inhabiting a backwater planet (okay, technically a planetoid since it's a moon, for all you space nerds out there) that suddenly finds itself a target of a fascist ruling class at the center of the galaxy. With the relentless might of the Mother World bearing down on countless innocents, it's up to Kora to put together a team to help repel those dastardly forces.
But that's not the only big reveal from the trailer. We now know that both films in this new Netflix franchise come with their own unique subtitles too, along with their exact release dates. The first, now known as "A Child of Fire," will release in December, as we previously knew. Its follow-up, "The Scargiver," drops earlier than expected on April 24, 2024.
"Rebel Moon" is co-written and directed by Zack Snyder, sharing screenplay credit with Shay Hatten and Kurt Johnstad (both of whom have previously worked with Snyder on "Army of the Dead" and "300," respectively). The film stars a jam-packed cast that includes Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Charlie Hunnam, Cary Elwes, Ray Fisher, "Game of Thrones" alums Ed Skrein and Michiel Huisman (who played the same character at different points in that series, amusingly enough), Jena Malone, Corey Stoll, and even Anthony Hopkins in a voice role.
The first "Rebel Moon" film hits Netflix on December 22, 2023.