Since his career kickstarted back in 2004 with Dawn of the Dead, Zack Snyder has found himself at the helm of multiple world-building franchises with stellar success. Be it his time with DC via movies Watchmen and Batman vs. Superman, the 300 movies, or his latest project, Rebel Moon, Snyder, has found incessant success in the industry.
Still, Snyder is yet to create a franchise of the scale of Star Wars, even though fans will outline the similarities between the two epic space operas. As it turns out, those similarities are not unfounded, and Rebel Moon was initially a Star Wars film.
While it may be a feat of immense pride to be at the helm of a movie from the universe, Snyder’s wife and production partner Deborah Snyder revealed last year how she was actually happy Rebel Moon did not become a Star Wars project.
Deborah Synder was happy that Rebel Moon did not remain a Star Wars series
As it turns out, while Rebel Moon transformed into Snyder’s own pet project, the idea at its inception was linked to the Star Wars universe. However, Deborah Snyder was reluctant right from the beginning and actually wanted her husband to instead make an original project.
She claimed that even if the idea at its inception was separate from the mainstream Star Wars universe, she wanted Rebel Moon to be completely original: (Slash Film)
Once, it was a Star Wars film, and I never wanted it to be. I remember, I said to Zack, ‘I just feel like your hands are going to be tied so much in what that IP is,’ even though it kind of lived outside of it. So I was kind of happy when that fell apart, because I always felt like it was better.
At the onset, it may sound like Deborah did not understand how huge it would have been for Zack Snyder to work on a Star Wars movie. However, instead, she had faith in the kind of originality and skills that her husband had honed over the years and thought that creating an original franchise was more exciting.
Deborah Snyder’s vision for Rebel Moon stemmed from faith in her husband
There is little doubt that Snyder has picked up a diverse skillset since his debut in the industry. He has worked in the realm of superheroes, has created a fantastical world of historic retelling with 300, and developed his own original style, which sets him apart in the genre.
Deborah Snyder claimed that she wanted Rebel Moon to be a product of this originality, instead of being tied down by the narrative constraints of the huge IP that Star Wars represents:
We learned so much with all our years working with the superheroes and creating those worlds, and to do something now that’s wholly original — we got to do a little bit of that in the world of zombies, and with Las Vegas, but to do something that is fantastical, we say it’s a science fantasy more than science fiction, and to take all those skills that Zack has been honing, and to do something in this space, just seemed really exciting.
Hence, while Rebel Moon was initially seen as a Star Wars project, Deborah Snyder had a bigger vision for the series. She wanted her husband to showcase the kind of progress and skillset that he had acquired in the past two decades.
Rebel Moon Parts 1 and 2 are both available to be viewed on Netflix.
