After 15 years spent attempting to get the project moving with multiple writers and directors, Millennium Films finally managed to put its Red Sonja reboot into production late last year, with Revenge star Matilda Lutz taking over from Hannah John Kamen as the fearsome warrior of the title.
Solomon Kane director M.J. Bassett - who is a huge fan of the character - is now at the helm, and she was adamant that she wanted to modernise Sonja by making some changes to her origin, but also wanted to steer "clear of sexual politics and gender."
“I didn’t warm to the previous script, which was much more sexual politics,” she tells THR. “Obviously in my personal life I’m interested in that. But as a storyteller I don’t think it’s interesting.”
Bassett also decided to alter a key aspect of Sonya's backstory: her brutal rape by marauding enemies. “I have no interest in fictional women who use [rape] as an engine of motivation,” she says. “It’s not a strong motivation. She’s just a human being in the world of femininity.”
One potentially controversial staple of the character that will be staying, however, is her revealing chain-mail bikini. While Bassett acknowledges that Sonja “became a character for prepubescent 13-year-olds that was never accessible beyond,” the filmmaker clearly felt that Sonja's signature outfit shouldn't be tampered with.
Red Sonja also stars also features Wallis Day as Annisia, Robert Sheehan as Draygan, Michael Bisping as Hawk, Martyn Ford as General Karlak and Eliza Matengu as Amarak. Filming is currently underway in Bulgaria.