Rebel Moon producers are really glad it isn’t a Star Wars

There’s no separating Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon from Star Wars, at least in conversation about the film. It’s not just that one is something of an homage to the other; it’s that Rebel Moon literally began as a Lucasfilm pitch: “Once, it was a ‘Star Wars’ film, and I never wanted it to be,” the director’s wife and producing partner Deborah Snyder said at a press junket (via SlashFilm). “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.”

Deborah admitted to being “kind of happy” when the Lucasfilm pitch fell apart (“Debbie said, ‘Thank God, you would’ve been so sad,’” Zack recently told Polygon). “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 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,” Deborah explained at the junket.

Producer Eric Newman agreed. “I remember [Zack] calling me at some point, and this has got to be 15 years ago, saying, ‘I’m thinking of doing Seven Jedi, in the Star Wars universe.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, that’s a cool idea,’” Newman recalled. “Then, a few years later, he calls me and goes, ‘You know, I think it could be a television show.’ I’m like, ‘Yes, let’s do this! Fuck Star Wars! Let’s do this as a TV show.’”

Rebel Moon didn’t end up being a television show—just a movie with multiple parts and lots of versions—and it didn’t end up being solely influenced by Star Wars either. There’s Seven Samurai, of course, but also Heavy Metal, according to Newman. Zack also cited Brazil and Excalibur as some of his sources of inspiration. You can pick out the references yourself when the film premieres on Netflix on December 22.