A new fan theory about Zack Snyder’s sci-fi epic, Rebel Moon, suggests that Netflix may have beaten Henry Cavill to the punch before he could launch his ambitious post-Witcher fantasy franchise. Officially titled Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire, Snyder’s latest effort sees an intergalactic warrior assembling a team to fight back against the galaxy’s empirical overlords. The film has been dubbed an original I.P., and the filmmakers have been talking up its originality in their promotional press appearances, but Rebel Moon has very few genuinely original ideas; it draws influence from (and, in some cases, outright rips off) a handful of other franchises.
Snyder’s script for Rebel Moon, co-written with Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten, was famously reworked from a failed Star Wars pitch, and its use of lightsabers, quirky droids, and an evil empire would suggest that very little was changed from the original premise. On top of the Star Wars connection, Rebel Moon borrows the well-trodden narrative framework of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. Its visual style harks back to the stories in Heavy Metal magazine and it features similar violence and creature designs to Mortal Kombat. But Rebel Moon’s connection to another franchise has sparked a fan theory that it’s an unofficial adaptation.
New Theory Reveals Rebel Moon Is Set In The Warhammer 40,000 Universe
A new Rebel Moon fan theory proposed by the Reddit user u/foxtrot1_1 would suggest that Snyder’s sci-fi actioner actually takes place in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The games were clearly a visual influence on Rebel Moon’s military aesthetic, but the Redditor points out that it goes beyond that to specific concepts with the exact same name. From the Ecclesiarchy to Men of Iron to a corpse king to a fascistic empire run from Earth, u/foxtrot1_1 has highlighted many concepts in Rebel Moon lifted straight from the Warhammer franchise. These aren’t vague parallels like the Star Wars Easter eggs; these are taken straight from Warhammer 40K.
The Redditor also points out that Rebel Moon, like Warhammer, has a leader named Belisarius, a MacGuffin called “The Mechanicum” where people augment themselves with machines, and a group of villains who dress like Nazis. While these space Nazis may have been conceived as an homage to Star Wars’ Galactic Empire, their aesthetic is closer to Warhammer’s space Nazis. Commenters on the post pointed out even more connections between Rebel Moon and the Warhammer franchise. Snyder’s film refers to the Motherworld as “The Imperium” and has a band of freedom fighters called “Bloodaxes,” both of which are taken from Warhammer.
Henry Cavill Is Set To Lead Warhammer 40,000’s Movie & TV Franchise After Exiting The Witcher
In late October 2022, Henry Cavill and Netflix jointly announced that Cavill would drop out of his lead role as Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher after the third season aired in 2023. After Cavill’s exit, the role of Geralt will instead be played by Liam Hemsworth. The Witcher’s changes to the source material have been poorly received by fans of the franchise, so Cavill has likely made a good call stepping down from the series. Within a couple of months, Cavill had already lined up a new franchise to star in – and it’s another fantasy franchise with a fervent fan following, no less.
In December 2022, just a few short months after Cavill dropped out of The Witcher, he teamed up with Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee and Natalie Viscuso to acquire the film and TV rights to Warhammer 40,000. They brought the acquisition to Amazon Studios, who negotiated with the rights holders, fended off rival studios, and successfully sealed the deal. Vertigo and Amazon will co-produce a film and TV franchise based on the Warhammer games along with Games Workshop’s Andy Smillie and Max Bottrill. Cavill will star in a Warhammer series and executive-produce the ensuing cinematic universe, which is much better than having no creative control over an unfaithful Witcher series.
Rebel Moon Part 1’s Bad Netflix Reviews Are Actually A Good Sign For Henry Cavill’s Warhammer Franchise
The fact that Rebel Moon, with all its blatant similarities to Warhammer 4K (and many other franchises it shamelessly borrowed from), has been roasted by critics, is actually good for Cavill’s upcoming Warhammer series. If Rebel Moon had been a massive hit with audiences and critics, amassing its own giant fan base overnight, it would put way more pressure on Cavill’s Warhammer franchise to be even better and a pretty much perfect adaptation of the games. Now that Rebel Moon has crashed and burned, Cavill can show them how it’s done with the real Warhammer 40K movie and TV franchise.
