Just how much backstory will be needed to understand Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon? The two-part sci-fi opera is set to drop its first installment on December 22, 2023 but the Man of Steel director keeps announcing tie-in, prequel spinoffs.
It was previously announced that a prequel RPG video game would be released by Super Evil Megacorp for the Netflix Games platform. Shortly thereafter, a four-issue prequel comic titled Rebel Moon: House of the Bloodaxe was announced by Titan Comics.
Snyder has also floated plans for a prequel series that chronicled the rise of the epic's main villain, Balisarius (played by Fra Free).
Now, it's reported that Snyder is also developing plans for a podcast, stop-motion comic book, and an animated series. All three of these projects will be prequels, set before the events of the first film.
Speaking to Total Film Magazine, Snyder stated, "We’re doing a narrative podcast, and an animated comic book, and an animated series. They all take place before the events of the movie. So you can start to understand the vastness of the mythology that we’ve been working on."
Rebel Moon co-writer Kurt Johnstad added, "The world is very, very detailed and fleshed out," Johnstad says. "There’s hundreds and hundreds of pages of documents of methodology and mythology and lore. The timeline goes back 800 years, from our movies."
Rebel Moon Part 1: A Child of Fire will be released by Netflix on December 22, 2023, and will be followed by Rebel Moon Part 2: The Scargiver which drops on April 19, 2024.
A directors-cut version of both films has been confirmed and both will exceed the two-hour runtime for both films by a fair bit as Snyder described them as having an extra hour of content.
The Rebel Moon cast includes Sofia Boutella (Star Trek Darkness, Kingsman: The Secret Service) as Kora- the primary protagonist of the film, and Fra Fee (Hawkeye) as Regent Balisarius- the film's primary antagonist.
Also starring in the film are Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword), Michiel Huisman (World War Z, Game of Thrones), Djimon Hounsou (Shazam), Doona Bae (Jupiter Ascending, Cloud Atlas), Ray Fisher (Justice League), Cleopatra Coleman (The Last Man on Earth, Cobweb), Jena Malone (Sucker Punch, Neon Demon), Ed Skrein (Deadpool, Alita: Battle Angel), and Anthony Hopkins (Thor: Ragnarok, The Rite).
About Rebel Moon: When a peaceful colony on the edge of a galaxy finds itself threatened by the armies of a tyrannical ruling force, Kora (Sofia Boutella), a mysterious stranger living among the villagers, becomes their best hope for survival. Tasked with finding trained fighters who will unite with her in making an impossible stand against the Mother World, Kora 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. As the shadow of an entire Realm bears down on the unlikeliest of moons, a battle over the fate of a galaxy is waged, and in the process, a new army of heroes is formed.