How, in Netflix’s Rebel Moon, originally pitched as a Star Wars movie, Zack Snyder creates a ‘new world’ far, far removed from George Lucas’ galaxy

Zack Snyder wrote his sci-fi, soon to be released on Netflix and starring Charlie Hunnam, as a Star Wars film. It was rejected, but he continued developing it

A decade on, the cast of Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire talk about how it stands apart from Star Wars, as Snyder reveals his dream of a new franchise

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Sofia Boutella in a still from “Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire”. Zack Snyder’s failed Star Wars-movie pitch is about to be released as a film on Netflix. The cast members talk about why this universe is original, as the director opens up about his dreams for the franchise. Photo: Netflix via AP

Published: 5:15pm, 17 Dec 2023

If Zack Snyder’s new Netflix sci-fi movie epic, Rebel Moon, looks and feels a lot like a Star Wars film, that’s because it was originally pitched as one.

From its humble villagers in a far-flung galaxy battling planet-destroying imperial overlords, to its superheated swords, and even its title, the similarities with George Lucas’s creation are inescapable.

When Snyder’s pitch to Lucasfilm a decade or so ago didn’t work out, the director went ahead and created his own sprawling, mythology-packed universe instead – something that he now sees as a huge blessing.

“When it turned out that wasn’t gonna work out, my wife and producing partner Deborah said to me, ‘This is the best news that you possibly could have gotten,’” Snyder recalls.

“The process of creating this world, though exhausting and very time consuming – and really the amount of detail is insane – has been incredibly rewarding,” says the director of 300 and Watchmen, “because it does give you the ability to deconstruct sci-fi icons and tropes that you’re used to.”