Zack Snyder's 'Rebel Moon' finally takes flight on Netflix

Zack Snyder's uncompromised vision for his space opera, Rebel Moon, is now available on Netflix as a two-part director's cut after almost 30 years. 

The project, initially conceived in 1997 as The Five alongside co-writer Kurt Johnstad, drew inspiration from Seven Samurai, Star Wars, and Heavy Metal magazine.

Snyder's journey to bring Rebel Moon to life was marked by several detours, including a pitch to Lucasfilm for a Star Wars project in 2012, an attempt to develop it as a video game and movie with Warner Bros., and even consideration of a TV series with Narcos producer Eric Newman.

Zack Snyder's departure from Warner Bros.' DC universe in 2017 led to a new opportunity with Netflix, courtesy of his longtime collaborator Scott Stuber, then the streamer's film chief.

Seeking to rival traditional studios' film franchises, Netflix enlisted Snyder to create original franchises.

This partnership initially yielded the successful Army of the Dead and Army of Thieves in 2021.

However, before these releases, Snyder had already reunited with co-writer Kurt Johnstad to finally bring Rebel Moon to life, setting the long-gestating project in motion.

Snyder meticulously planned multiple versions of Rebel Moon, anticipating what content would fit Netflix's PG-13 guidelines for the initial two-hour chapters.

As a result, certain scenes, like the more violent introduction of Ed Skrein's character, Admiral Noble, were saved for the director's cut releases: Rebel Moon — Part One: Director's Cut (204 minutes) and Rebel Moon — Part Two: Director's Cut (173 minutes), which debut today.

“We knew before shooting that it was not going to be [in Part One’s PG-13 cut]. I couldn’t really conceive of a PG-13 version of the scene that really got to the why of it, and so we cut it. It was always going to be in the R-rated version only, so we all made peace with that,” Snyder told The Hollywood Reporter.

It’s incredibly important, and it really changes the tone of the movie in general.”