There’s perhaps no other director in Hollywood history who has received an equal amount of love and hate as Zack Snyder. The filmmaker’s resume is filled with controversial films, some of which are even called ‘ahead of time’. Owing to such a reputation, even studio executives sometimes replicate the sentiment shared by moviegoers.
Of the more beloved works of the Watchmen director, 300 and its sequel, Rise of An Empire, stand above the rest. The movie series solidified Snyder’s status as a visionary, which led to Warner Bros. giving the reins of the nascent DCEU to the filmmaker.
There was even supposed to be a third movie in the historical drama series. However, it did not come to fruition.
Zack Snyder had plans for a third 300 movie
Adapted from Frank Miller’s graphic novel, the 300 series brought Zack Snyder a newfound fame. The movies also led to a rise in popular interest in historical epics quite similar to Snyder’s style, such as Exodus: Gods and Kings and Immortals.
After the massive success of the two films, Snyder even had plans for a third, based on Alexander the Great’s life. In an interview with The Playlist, he revealed:
I just couldn’t really get my teeth into it. Over the pandemic, I had a deal with Warner Brothers and I wrote what was essentially going to be the final chapter in 300,” Snyder said. “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.
It seems like love stories aren’t really Snyder’s genre. And Warner Bros knew that, and sensed the same feeling.
Warner Bros were not fans of Zack Snyder’s idea
The 300 movies are mainly known for their legendary action sequences. Fans loved to watch barely-clothed Spartan and Athenian warriors take up arms against the mighty Persian empire, fighting an uphill battle with a handful of soldiers. However, Snyder’s plans for a threequel might’ve steered the story in a different direction.
Warner Bros were not keen on exploring that side of the story. Snyder admitted in the same interview:
But there was that concept, and it came out really great. It’s called Blood and Ashes, and it’s a beautiful love story, really, with warfare. I would love to do it, [WB] said no… you know, they’re not huge fans of mine. It is what it is.
Whether it was the controversial take or Snyder himself, we won’t know for sure what irked the WB executives. Even historians aren’t sure if Hephaestion and Alexander were lovers or just close friends. If WB did move forward with the storyline, it surely would’ve been a controversial movie.
300 and 300: Rise of An Empire are available to stream on Max.
