Zack Snyder teases 'weirdo darkness' of his 'subversive' R-rated Rebel Moon cut on Netflix

Kora points a pistol at someone off-camera in Netflix's Rebel Moon: Part One - A Child of Fire movie
(Image credit: Clay Enos/Netflix)

We've described Rebel Moon as "The Magnificent Seven versus Star Wars", and we expect that the epic movies could be the sci-fi franchise Netflix has been hoping for. The first film arrives on December 22 but in addition to the PG-13 version of it, there will also be an R-rated director's cut in 2024, which according to director Zack Snyder will be "fun and subversive". 

According to Variety, the two cuts – the film is being shown in two parts – will be more violent and will flesh out the cinematic universe in more detail. And speaking to Entrainment Weekly, Snyder said that "it's very hard, very sexy, violent, crazy". You can see the Entertainment Weekly interview in the video below.

What do we know about the Rebel Moon director's cut?

One of the unusual things about this director's cut is that it was planned from the outset with Netflix. Director's cuts are usually afterthoughts designed to enhance or repair a film's image after release. Here, though, the goal is to satisfy two different audiences: family viewers and those who want their entertainment a little more adult. 

“This was the first time I had ever been able to make a movie and plan for that,” Snyder says. “The cut was not me fighting with them like, ‘Okay, you won’t do what I want. Can I at least release it on DVD?’ It was us going together.”

The first official non-teaser trailer, embedded below, gives you a good idea of what you can expect from the first film. It focuses on Kora (Sofia Boutella), a stranger with a mysterious past who finds a new home among a settlement of farmers until forces from the tyrannical Motherworld – think Star Wars' Galactic Empire – arrive with evil intentions. 

You can find out much more about Rebel Moon's plot, cast, release dates and more in our full Rebel Moon guide. If it's as good as it looks this could be the streaming hit of the holidays, and it has the potential to start a whole new Star Wars-style franchise. That's a lot of pressure, but if it's affecting Snyder there's no sign of it in the Entertainment Weekly interview. 

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Carrie Marshall
Contributor

Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.

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