What’s next for director Zack Snyder after his upcoming “Rebel Moon” part two sci-fi sequel? While the genre filmmaker has teased a possible third installment in the series, Snyder still has various projects in the oven and is still mulling over what gets made from that pack of contenders, including a sequel to his “Army Of The Dead” zombie movie. During a recent chat with Games Radar to promote the second half of “Rebel Moon,” Snyder was asked about some of the previous projects he had in development, such as a film inspired by the King Arthur mythology (Snyder is a big fan of John Boorman’s R-rated “Excalibur”), Horse Latitudes (a long-gestating Afghan War pic formerly known as “The Last Photograph”), and his sexualized take on Alexander The Great in “Blood & Ashes” too (Snyder once mused about making a George Washington action film).
Snyder also added Richard Bach’s “Illusions: The Adventures of A Reluctant Messiah” onto the pile of potential film options but also suggested he make something unexpected and less VFX reliant. “‘Illusions’ is also one of those movies,” Snyder said about what could be next for him to direct. “It could be one of those, I don’t want to say exactly, because it’s going to be a bit of a surprise.”
Snyder suggested the heavy toll of VFX work in “Rebel Moon” was also pushing him towards perhaps trying something different and possibly more realistic.
“I really wanted to do something that’s not a visual effects extravaganza, just because I’d like to just do something a little grounded,” he explained. “‘Horse Latitudes’ is a perfect example of that; it’s much more just like a movie we can go film. I know that sounds like, ‘Isn’t that every movie?’ But [in] a movie like this [‘Rebel Moon’], there’s nothing for free. There’s nothing to film unless you build it. So, it’d be nice to not have to do that.”
With all of this in mind, Snyder also has a possible “Planet of The Dead” film as one of his options, the follow-up to his Las Vegas-set zombie actioner “Army of The Dead.” One could assume Netflix might want that next, but it may depend on how “Rebel Moon: Part Two” performs for the streamer. Additionally, if Snyder genuinely hopes to surprise audiences with what’s next, that would likely rule out both the ‘Dead,’ and ‘Rebel Moon,’ options as they’re the most viable at this point.
Meanwhile, Netflix’s internal culture could be changing with the hiring of a new film chief, Dan Lin, and any previous plans could be re-envisioned under his new leadership, so all of this is even getting harder to predict.
It’s hard to predict what the future of “Rebel Moon” as a franchise looks like at this point, and Snyder might not be able to get every idea rubber-stamped at Netflix. Then again, devoted audiences will always follow him wherever he goes. Meanwhile, “Rebel Moon—Part Two: The Scargiver” debuts on Netflix this Friday, April 19.