Rebel Moon's Charlie Hunnam Discusses His Character’s Big Twist At The End Of Part 1
Spoilers!
SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Rebel Moon: Part 1 – A Child Of Fire. If you have not yet watched the film, proceed at your own risk!
When the protagonists in Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon: Part 1 – A Child Of Fire go off to recruit heroes to help them in their plight, Charlie Hunnam’s Kai is introduced as a Han Solo-like character who both provides transportation and facilitates the mission… but what we don’t know is that he has some ulterior motives. It’s revealed in the third act that he has been in communication with Ed Skrein’s Atticus Noble, and he willfully sets up his “friends” to be captured and killed. It’s the biggest twist in the film – and one toward which Hunnam took an interesting and specific approach.
A captured in the video above, I had the pleasure of interviewing Charlie Hunnam and co-star Michiel Huisman earlier this month during the Los Angeles press day for Rebel Moon – which is now streaming on Netflix – and I used my last question during our conversation to get into spoiler territory. I asked if Kai’s planned betrayal had a specific influence on the way that the actor approached the character, and Hunnam explained that its most significant impact was in his effort to create what seems like an on-screen love triangle between Kai, Sofia Boutella’ Kora, and Huisman’s Gunnar:
It’s a clever bit of misdirection. Stories are built on conflict, and if audiences see a love triangle between Kora, Gunnar and Kai, there is a subconscious assumption made about where their individual narratives are going. For Kai, as orchestrated by Charlie Hunnam, this is simply a distraction to keep you from noticing any red flags in his attitude or behavior.
Continuing, the actor added that he would find special ways for Kai to connect with Kora so that he could hide the character’s true intentions. Said Hunnam,
The key for the performance was subtlety, and it was important for Hunnam. While audiences may end up hating Kai for his heel turn at the end of Rebel Moon, it was his number one desire to never come across as a mustache-twirler. Instead, he views the character more like a dedicated child:
Also starring Ray Fisher, Bae Doona, Staz Nair, Djimon Hounsou, Cleopatra Colman, E. Duffy, Fra Free and Anthony Hopkins, Rebel Moon: Part One - A Child Of Fire is now available to stream for Netflix subscribers, and there is much to look forward to in the future. In addition to Rebel Moon: Part 2 – The Scargiver being scheduled for release next spring, on April 19, 2024, there are also plans for extended, unrated director’s cuts to be unveiled in the summer.
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Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.