‘X-Men’ Director Bryan Singer in Talks to Direct ‘Red Sonja’

Longtime X-Men director Bryan Singer is in talks to direct comic book adaptation Red Sonja for Millennium, THR learned Monday. Ashley Miller (X-Men: First Class, produced by Singer) is penning the script for the comic book adaptation.

Millennium hopes to launch a franchise and tap into the same success won by Warner Bros.’ Gal Gadot-led Wonder Woman.

Avi Lerner (The Expendables, The Hitman’s Bodyguard) and Joe Gatta (Conan the Barbarian, Out of the Furnace) produce with Cinelou’s Mark Canton (300, Escape Plan) and Courtney Solomon (Dungeons & Dragons).

Sonja has long languished in development at Millennium: Sin City and Machete Kills director Robert Rodriguez was once attached with then-girlfriend Rose McGowan (Planet Terror) in the starring role in 2008. Brigitte Nielsen and Conan the Destroyer star Arnold Schwarzenegger headlined a past version in 1985.

The Hollywood Reporter, citing sources, says Singer will fetch “top dollar” for the directing gig on Red Sonja, “which is seen as a step towards rehabilitating the director’s image.”

Singer helmed four X-Men movies, launching the franchise under Fox in 2000 and returning for X2: X-Men United in 2003, X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014 and X-Men: Apocalypse in 2016.

Singer, who most recently directed X-verse TV series pilot The Gifted for Fox in 2017, has long fielded sexual assault allegations and rape accusations, and was fired by Fox from Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody over “unexpected unavailability.” Eddie the Eagle director Dexter Fletcher was tapped to finish the film, which will bear Singer’s name as sole director per Directors Guild of America guidelines.

He also retains his producer credit on the in-the-works X-Men: Dark Phoenix, directed by series writer-producer Simon Kinberg.

The superheroine Red Sonja, a sword-swinging ally of Conan the Barbarian, was co-created for Marvel Comics by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor Smith during the sword-and-sorcery era. She headlined her self-titled book in the late 1970s before going on to star in subsequent multiple Dynamite series.

Red Sonja was long billed as a “She-Devil with a Sword.” In her extensive history, Red Sonja has crossed over with famed Marvel Comics hero Spider-Man.

Millennium has not yet commented on Singer’s potential hiring and a release date has not yet been revealed.