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The producers of Zack Snyder’s upcoming space opera Rebel Moon were relieved when Lucasfilm previously rejected the idea of the director’s stab atStar Wars—a project he had been working on since film school.
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Despite being denied entry into the galaxy far, far away, the Rebel Moon team saw the silver lining because it meant the movie had a better chance of being an original IP, and now, Snyder seems to have struck gold. Here’s everything you need to know about the Rebel Moon franchise.
What Is Rebel Moon?
Rebel Moon has been described as an upcoming “epic space opera” directed by Zack Snyder, co-written with Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten, and based on the director’s original idea. The premise follows a group of warrior rebels who must work together to free the universe from the corrupt Mother World government and Regent Balisarius’ Imperium army.Rebel Moon is notably Snyder’s Star Wars moviewith comparisons to the Rebellion and the Empire, and Snyder was also inspired by the work of Akira Kurosawa while creating the project.
The epic features an ensemble cast including warrior, leader, and former Imperium memberKoraplayed by The Mummy’s Sofia Boutella, and former ImperiumGeneral Titus,played by Shazam! actor Djimon Hounsou, mercenary pilotKai,portrayed by Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam, and farmerGunnar,played by The Haunting of Hill House and Game of Thornes actor Michiel Huisman. Other notable names appearing in the movie include Ray Fisher, Corey Stoll, Cary Elwes, and Anthony Hopkins, voicing mechanical knightJimmy.
The first trailer for Rebel Moon premiered during Gamescom 2023’s opening night—an annual trade fair event held in Germany this year—when Snyder appeared on stage to introduce the movie himself. The movie is confirmed to be receiving a PG-13 cut alongside an extended R-rated cut, and the space saga’s debut is going to be split into two parts:Part One: A Child of Fire,releasing on June 15, 2025, andPart Two: The Scargiverreleasing on July 30, 2025, both onNetflix.
Rebel Moon Co-op Game
Alongside Rebel Moon’s trailer debut at Gamescom, Snyder confirmed a previously teased video game based on the director’s IP, stating that it would bea four-player co-op action game developed by Super Evil Megacorp—the dev behind a range of mobile games, MOBA Vainglory, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate—andpublished exclusively on the Netflix Games platform.
Set in the same universe as the movies, Snyder confirmed that the game would take place after the events of both movies, whereyou’ll get to choose which rebel you pilot and enter into a solo campaign or co-op play. Selecting which rebel you play implies that you won’t be able to create your own character and, instead, play as a pre-existing rebel from the movies.
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Reported byVideo Games Chronicle, Snyder went on The Nerd Queens podcast to talk about the game and its “ridiculous” scale:
“ We talked about how we would do that game, and we just said, ‘Let’s go.' It was pitched to me because I’ve always wanted to do an RPG, they were like, ‘We could do at this scale,’ or we could do it at a ridiculous scale.’ I was like, ‘Well, ridiculous scale is clearly the scale we should be doing it at.’
Zack Snyder’s Vision For Rebel Moon
Not only does the Rebel Moon franchise have two movies and a video game in the pipeline, butSnyder is also working on a novelization of the movie, a graphic novel, and an animated short,all designed to flesh out this gigantic universe.
The novelization is currently up for pre-order and due to release on June 15, 2025, four days after the debut of Rebel Moon Part One: A Child Of Fire. The novel is being written by V. Castro, a Mexican-American writer and two-time Bram Stoker Award nominee, and it will be released in both paperback and digital formats. The novel will be a direct novelization of Part One that will likely add additional details to certain scenes and characters.
Finally, Snyder confirmed that Netflix would be helping to expand the IP by backing a graphic novel and an animated short. Speaking once again on The Nerd Queens podcast, Snyder said Rebel Moon was “not a small time commitment”:
“We are doing a graphic novel for Rebel Moon. I think we are gonna do an animation short. We are gonna do a bunch of other things that are insane. It’s all in the works. It’s not a small-time commitment to Rebel Moon.”
