Zack Snyder has a track record of thinking huge in scale, and his upcoming sci-fi saga won't be any different. The filmmaker, who created his own corner of the DC universe and imagined an infinite number of stories that could spring from his zombie film Army Of The Dead, has a talent for building vast universes that can turn in a variety of directions, and Rebel Moon is brimming with possible expansion.
The movie originally started as a Star Wars pitch, but Netflix decided to develop the film. Later on, the director split the first movie into two instead of settling for a single three-hour picture. The films will now be released in two parts, and a third movie is on the way, making the series a trilogy. And that's not even the beginning.
According to what Snyder tells in Empires’ exclusive interview, he has plans that go far beyond the trilogy, he knows exactly how Rebel Moon could expand.
“When I pitched it to Netflix, the scale was a thing they wanted,” says Snyder. “They were like, ‘Well, how big could it be? How many movies?’ That made me go, ‘Okay, if we really do this, we can sink our teeth pretty deep into this. We can’t really hit the bottom.’”
A 450-page Rebel Moon "bible" was written by the writer-director and contains a wealth of information about the nefarious Imperium's history and legend. He has a long timeline that goes much before and after the trilogy.
“This is the small board,” Snyder laughs of the version he shows Empire in his Pasadena offices. “The big board is over at my office on the hill. It’s three times the size of this.”
A TV show has been proposed that will examine the life of the real antagonist of the saga, Fra Fee's Balisarius. And viewers will finally get to see the rebel moon in the third movie.
“The Rebel Moon is not the moon that they’re on,” Snyder clarifies. “The title was conceptual, but there’s a planet named Vanna, and Vanna is the rebel moon. It’s not even in one shot of this movie!”
As a previous report stated, many spinoff projects for Rebel Moon are already in development, according to an update by insider MyTimeToShineHello. One of these projects is the "ridiculously scaled" tabletop role-playing game or video game adaptation of Rebel Moon. A graphic novel and animated series are also in development, as previously revealed by Zack Snyder. Prior to the movie's debut, V. Castro will publish a novelization of the upcoming film.
In contrast to Warner Bros., who labeled the Snyder edit as a misstep, Netflix clearly has faith in Snyder because it seems that the director has the creative freedom to carry out his vision. "The Snyder Cut" of the Justice League, which earned favorable reviews from critics and was dubbed a "global phenomenon," remains the only film to have caused HBO Max's servers to break down when it originally debuted. Fans of Snyder are anticipating the release of the sci-fi epic, Rebel Moon Part 1: The Child of Fire, to have the same popularity on Netflix. There's no doubt that the merging of ideas from Star Wars and samurai culture will keep Snyder fans on the edge of their seats.
Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon Part 1: The Child of Fire is scheduled to be released theatrically and on Netflix on December 22, 2023.