Red Sonja Writer Gail Simone Consulting on New Movie

Gail Simone, who helped Dynamite Entertainment relaunch Red Sonja in 2013, is a consultant on Millennium’s upcoming Red Sonja movie, which announced Ant-Man and the Wasp star Hannah John-Kamen as its start earlier this week. Simone’s Red Sonja series ran for 18 issues, and the run remains a popular starting point for fans new to the character, which Dynamite inherited from Marvel Comics in 2005. Dynamite originally continued from where Marvel left off with the character in 1986. After 35 issues, Dynamite killed off the original Red Sonja and replaced her with a “reincarnation” of the character. By the 50th issue, there was a soft reboot that linked the series back up with the original Marvel Red Sonja continuity.

After 80 issues, Dynamite’s first Red Sonja series ended. The publisher brought on Simone to launch a new series as a jumping-on point for new readers. Simone’s run dug into Red Sonja’s early days. On Twitter, Simone says she’s “been a consultant on the film since almost day one!”

Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith created Red Sonja during their run on Marvel Comics’ Conan the Barbarian series in the 1970s. Sonja is an amalgamation of several characters from the mind of Conan creator Robert E. Howard, primarily his Red Sonya of Rogatino. Sonja, a sword and sorcery heroine capable of matching Conan’s exploits, proved popular enough to warrant a spinoff comic. While Marvel Comics continues to publish Conan comics (having regained the rights after ceding them to Dark Horse Comics years ago), Dynamite Entertainment is the publisher of Sonja’s continuing comics adventures.

Joey Soloway will direct the Red Sonja movie and co-wrote the screenplay with Tasha Huo, showrunner and executive producer of Netflix and Legendary’s upcoming Tomb Raider animated series. Mark Canton and Courtney Solomon are producing the film with Christa Campbell and Lati Grobman of Campbell Grobman Films. Adrea Sperling of Topple and Yariv Lerner, Jeffrey Greenstein, Younger, Les Weldon, Joe Gatta, and Tanner Mobley of Millenium are also producers.

Millennium’s Avi Lerner, Boaz Davidson, and Trever Short are executive producers, with Luke Lieberman for Red Sonja LLC. and Nick Barrucci of Dynamite Entertainment. Dorothy Canton is also an executive producer.

Are you excited about the new Red Sonja movie? Let us know how you feel about it in the comments section.