There’s been a bit of a trend lately that sees director’s cuts being announced before the release of the more theatrically inclined version of projects. That's the case with Zack Snyder’s first two Rebel Moon installments. As the 2024 movie schedule saw the release of the variant known as Part Two: The Scargiver, that flick was dropped with the future release of two extended, R-rated versions before the summer was out. Now we have our look at what’s being touted as the "true vision" of the franchise, with two new titles, and a gory and sexy adventure that more than earns the R-rating.
Thanks to Netflix dropping this NSFW Red Band trailer for Rebel Moon: The Director’s Cut, we get a pretty good indication of what this duology has been hiding for so long. With more anatomically showy robot, blood explosions, and Ed Skrein getting freaky with some tentacles, this is more like the Zack Snyder we’ve come to know and love.
If you take a look at the recently unveiled teaser art for Rebel Moon: The Director's Cut, you can begin to see the difference:
As I previously mentioned in my Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire review, you could feel the Watchmen director’s more accessible playthrough of this story pulling its punches to a painful degree. Watching the bits that Snyder and Netflix are willing to reveal at this moment, that viewpoint is more than vindicated.
Of course, the real question is just much how these extended and retitled cuts change the story we’ve already seen. In that respect, we’ve had some promising teases from Rebel Moon co-writer Kurt Johnstad, thanks to CinemaBlend’s interview with Johnstad unveiling a “grittier and sexier” approach for these new cuts. However, there’s one point in particular that I’m eagerly awaiting the expanded lore behind; and it’s all thanks to Jimmy the Robot (Anthony Hopkins).
Kurt Johnstad teased Jimmy’s role expansion in Rebel Moon: The Director’s Cut as well. Knowing that the character has much more to his story than previously shown is something that I’ve been excited about. Between these extended versions of both previous movies and Netflix’s announcement for The Senchal podcast, which chronicles Jimmy's 500-year history prior to the events of the film, this story’s ready to jump into high gear.
The aim for a much larger Rebel Moon universe has long been discussed and, now, we’re starting to see the effort bear fruit with The Director’s Cut. Proposed as the first entry in a six-chapter sage, with each installment being broken into two halves, there could be a lot more of Zack Snyder’s vision on the way.
Of course, that’ll depend on the public reaction to Chapter One: Chalice of Blood and Chapter Two: Curse of Forgiveness; and we’ll get to witness that first-hand soon enough. That's thanks to both pieces of The Director's Cut will be available to stream with Netflix subscription, starting August 2nd.
In the meantime, you can currently catch the PG-13 versions, respectively named A Child of Fire and The Scargiver. And, for those of you looking to start your journey into The Senchal, the prequel podcast will be dropping an episode each week, starting July 29th.
