Star Wars: Zack Snyder Reveals Rebel Moon Was First Pitched to Lucasfilm

Zack Snyder’s long-awaited upcoming sci-fi epic, Rebel Moon is set to tell the story of a peaceful colony in far off space rebelling against a brutal dictatorship and if it’s a story that sounds just a little bit like Star Wars, you’re not wrong. According to Snyder himself, the film really was once “Zack Snyder’s Star Wars” in the sense that he once pitched the idea for the film to Lucasfilm. Speaking with Vanity Fair, Snyder explained that he made the pitch just before Lucasfilm was acquired by Disney, and his film was meant to be part of that world, but not get in the way of any future Star Wars films.

“I was in postproduction on Man of Steel,” Snyder explained. “I had heard there were rumblings about possibly doing another three [Star Wars] movies at some point. My take was that, if you just let me have the IP, I’ll make this cool movie, and I won’t get in the way of anything that you guys are doing.”

Snyder went on to explain that he met with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and then later with Disney’s then studio chief Alan Horn after Lucasfilm was acquired and while the reactions to the idea was promising, they all ultimately decided it wasn’t going to work out.

“I didn’t really have time to do a Star Wars movie,” Snyder said. “So, it kind of worked out.”

Rebel Moon, because it was original characters, ended up being easy to move away from Star Wars and ultimately ended up at Netflix and has changed quite a bit since it was pitched to Lucasfilm.

“The concept came from being at film school,” Snyder said. “I think I had a pitch class — what would be a cool idea for a movie? And I was like: ‘a defending-the-village space movie. Only afterward, I thought it would fit in the Star Wars universe. Then it went all the way back around. It’s been literally on the back burner for a long time. I don’t even know if the burner was on for a lot of that time.”

What is Rebel Moon about?

Rebel Moon is set in a peaceful colony on the edge of the galaxy that finds itself threatened by the armies of the tyrannical Regent Balisarius. They dispatch a young woman with a mysterious past to seek out warriors from neighboring planets to help them take a stand the Tyrant. The ensemble cast for the film includes Sofia Boutella, Charlie Hunnam, Ray Fisher, Djimon Hounsou, Jena Malone, Corey Stoll, Ed Skrein, Cleopatra Coleman, Fra Fee, Cary Elwes, and Anthony Hopkins.

Rebel Moon Writer Reveals New Details on Netflix Movie

Shay Hatten, the writer behind the recent John Wicksequels, teamed up with Snyder on both Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon. Following the release John Wick: Chapter 4, Hatten recently spoke with Collider and offered some information on Snyder’s latest film.

“Rebel Moon is… I mean, it’s in the can,” Hatten explained. “It’s in post-production right now. Zack [Snyder] is editing away, and I’ve seen bits and pieces of it. I’ve seen scenes here and there and a cut of the trailer. I haven’t seen the full movie myself yet, but I’m very, very excited about it. I really feel so lucky to get to work with Zack. I tell him this all the time, but 300 was one of the first R-rated movies that I convinced my parents to take me to see in theaters, which I think he hates me saying because it makes me seem super young. But nevertheless, he’s been really an inspiration to me for a long time. And I think with Rebel Moon, people will just see that it’s him really getting to unleash his visual imagination to the fullest extent. And I think people will really dig it.”

Rebel Moon arrives on Netflix on December 22nd.