Zack Snyder Pitched R-Rated Star Wars Movie Before Rebel Moon


Director Zack Snyder wanted to make an R-rated Star Wars movie.

The Justice League director has a new upcoming movie for Netflix called Rebel Moon. This movie is an epic space opera that he is expecting audiences to compare to Star Wars. The reason why is that this movie started out as a Star Wars movie that Snyder pitched to Lucasfilm while he was in postproduction on Man of Steel.

“It was Seven Samurai in space,” he told Empire. “And a Star Wars movie was my original concept for it.” There were many reasons why this film never came to fruition. “The sale [of Lucasfilm to Disney] had just happened,” says Zack Snyder. “There was that window where, you know, who knows what’s possible? I was like, ‘I don’t want any of your characters. I don’t want to do anything with any known characters, I just want to do my own thing on the side.’ And originally, I was like, ‘It should be rated R!’ That was almost a non-starter.”

When does Rebel Moon come out?

Rebel Moon releases on Netflix on December 22, 2023.

The Rebel Moon cast includes Sofia Boutella as Kora. The other characters will be played by Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Ray Fisher, Jena Malone, Charlie Hunnam, Cary Elwes, and Anthony Hopkins in a voice role.

“A peaceful colony on the edge of the galaxy is threatened by the armies of a tyrannical regent named Balisarius,” reads the film’s synopsis. “The desperate civilians dispatch Kora, a young woman who has a mysterious past, to seek out warriors from nearby planets to help them challenge the regent.”