Justice League director Zack Snyder has ambitious plans to expand the Rebel Moon universe, but beyond that, the filmmaker also has his Army of the Dead franchise to flesh out. Oh, and there’s the small matter of a project which was once going to be a 300 sequel.
Blood and Ashes started life as a follow-up to that and 300: Rise of the Empire and, according to The Hollywood Reporter, it was one of the final projects Snyder worked on before leaving Warner Bros. However, he ended up penning something very different from his previous adaptation of Frank Miller's iconic comic book.
The trade explains that it now focuses on Alexander the Great and his second in command, Haphaestion, in a movie that's part Greek war epic and part gay love story. Well, Warner Bros. passed and the rights have now returned to Snyder.
"We got the rights back so we can make if we want it," the filmmaker explains. "I don’t know what the marketplace is for an incredibly homoerotic, super violent, super sexual movie. But maybe it’s perfect."
One project that isn't moving forward, though, is his planned adaptation of Howard Chaykin's controversial Black Kiss comic. That's also an erotic tale with a transgender femme fatale and the sort of content which would likely guarantee an NC-17 rating.
"No one wanted to make it," Snyder said of a TV pilot he wrote. "It was too weird. We really went for it, too."
For now, the Rebel Moon director remains entrenched at Netflix, a streamer he'll be making content for for the next several years. That's led to many of the #RestoreTheSnyderverse supporters demanding Warner Bros. #SellTheSnyderverseToNetflix, but what does Netflix movie boss Scott Stuber have to say about a possible Justuce League sequel?
"That’s always tricky because you don’t own it," he admits. "Obviously we would like to license [Zack Snyder's Justice League] at some point. We’d love to have it on so that fans can experience more Zack. The more Zack we have the better we are."
The streamer is clearly 100% behind Snyder, meaning there's a good chance Blood and Ashes will become a reality. Even in this day and age, a Greek gay love story would be a hard sell in theaters, so giving it a chance to find an audience on streaming makes all the sense in the world.
As always, stay tuned for updates on the project as we have them.