Director Zack Snyder has been rumored to return to the world of 300 for a new sequel, Born of an Empire, leaving some questioning whether it will be released soon.
In 2006, long before his days at DC, Zack Snyder adapted another comic book in Frank Miller's 300, a war feature set in Ancient Rome starring Gerard Butler.
The filmmaker returned to that world with 300: Rise of an Empire in 2014 with a tale that took place before, during, and after the events of 300. Snyder co-wrote the screenplay with Kurt Johnstad while Noam Murro took on directing duties.
The Truth Behind Zack Snyder's 300 Sequel
Talk of another 300 movie has been reinvigorated online after the YouTube channel Darth Trailer shared the alleged first look at 300: Born of an Empire.
The Born of an Empire trailer features Henry Cavill (Man of Steel), Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), and Dwayne Johnson (Black Adam) in another ancient Spartan conflict, much in the same spirit as Zack Snyder's previous two movies.
However, unfortunately, this particular trailer is a fan-made concept creation, something that Darth Trailer shares plenty of using footage from the supposed leading actors' past movies and series.
But even though this trailer featuring Pascal, Johnson, and Cavill is nothing more than a work of fiction, there is some truth behind the 300 sequel rumors.
Revisiting the topic of 300 years after the second movie in 2016, Snyder suggested to Collider that future projects could "move out of Ancient Greece" but use that universe to explore "other conflicts that happened throughout history:"
"There may be. There may be. We've been talking a lot about sort of different incarnations of '300.' We’ve been talking about is there a way, possibly, we move out of Ancient Greece and use it as a framing device for other conflicts that happened throughout history."
He added how the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Alamo, and another battle in China had all been discussed for potential 300 follow-ups:
"I think I mentioned that we talked about the Revolutionary War version, and we talked about the Alamo, and we’ve talked about there’s a battle in China, a 'Lost Legion' kind of concept, any of those kinds of things are on the table."
The director later spoke to The Playlist in May 2021 and revealed he had written the script for "the final chapter" of the 300 trilogy during lockdown, which Warner Bros. ultimately decided to pass on after distributing the first two movies.
The Man of Steel director told how the movie ended up being about Ancient Greek ruler Alexander the Great which "turned out to be a love story," and, as such, didn't have a place as a 300 threequel:
"But when I sat down to write it I actually wrote a different movie. I was writing this thing about Alexander the Great, and it just turned into a movie about the relationship between Hephaestion and Alexander. It turned out to be a love story. So it really didn’t fit in as the third movie."
The film would have been titled Blood and Ashes and was "a beautiful love story... with warfare," however, Warner Bros. was uninterested in moving forward as he stated they are "not huge fans of [his].
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in December 2023, Snyder confirmed he had "got the rights back" to the Blood and Ashes script. This leaves him free to develop the project for another studio, describing it as an "incredibly homoerotic, super violent, super sexual movie:"
“We got the rights back so we can make if we want it. I don’t know what the marketplace is for an incredibly homoerotic, super violent, super sexual movie. But maybe it’s perfect.”
What Will Zack Snyder's Next Movie Be?
Zack Snyder has been on a tough run over recent years since taking his directing talents to Netflix. His Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon universes have struggled to take flight at the streamer, leaving his next projects uncertain.
During a recent interview with The Wrap, it was revealed Snyder's post-apocalyptic Army of the Dead universe was quietly canceled by Netflix, with both an animated series and Planet of the Dead sequel no longer moving forward.
After the bad reviews of the Rebel Moon movies and the R-rated director's cuts, one must question whether that will continue expanding either.
As Snyder's next project has been left uncertain after two cinematic universe disasters and reclaiming the rights to 300, perhaps he will look to revisit his Spartan franchise with a new sequel.
A report from World of Reel claimed the next Snyder movie will revolve around the UFC and be co-written by King Richard scribe Zach Baylin, with the MMA fighting league's president Dana White involved too.
The source also stated Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and Las Vegas are locked for filming locations with Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Adam Driver eyed to star.
With filming locations supposedly locked and an actor in talks to lead, Snyder's next movie may be ready to shoot in early 2025 to release in 2026 or 2027, provided, of course, that the report proves accurate.
World of Reel also noted that Rebel Moon 3 has been placed on permanent hold and is unlikely to move forward at Netflix. So, after his rumored UFC project is complete, his schedule may be open to revisiting the world of 300.
But after two failed cinematic universe attempts with Rebel Moon and Army of the Dead, Snyder's next efforts will likely be focussed on self-contained filmmaking, with no sequels or spin-offs in the pipeline until he finds another big win.
