WARNING! This article contains minor spoilers for Rebel Moon: Part One!
Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire is already being compared to Star Wars, but the recasting of a major villain’s actor worked in the director’s favor in this regard. The 2023 Netflix-streaming movie began life as a pitch by Snyder, with Rebel Moon once intended to be a Star Wars movie. However, Disney rejected Snyder’s proposal, so he teamed up with Netflix and adapted his original vision for Rebel Moon.
Rebel Moon shares a similar aesthetic and narrative with Star Wars. As well as featuring an intergalactic empire with a tyrannous leader, including a heavy focus on his villainous enforcer (Darth Vader in Star Wars and Ed Skrein’s Admiral Noble in Rebel Moon), both sci-fi stories also begin with a group of farmers who head on to greater things. While Rebel Moon may not be quite as fantastical as Star Wars, it’s impossible to ignore the influence, especially in regard to its antagonists. However, the original casting of one of Rebel Moon‘s villains would have contributed even more to the similarities between both properties.
Rebel Moon Cast Guide: Every Actor Starring In Zack Snyder’s Sci-Fi Movie For Netflix
Zack Snyder helms this sci-fi epic with a stellar cast that includes returning collaborators, fantasy genre regulars, and a renowned Oscar winner.
Rupert Friend’s Atticus Noble Recasting Avoided Villain Comparisons So Soon After Obi-Wan Kenobi
Friend’s presence in Rebel Moon would have hindered the franchise’s distance from Star Wars
Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire features actor Ed Skrein as Admiral Atticus Noble, one of the 2023 movie’s main villains. Originally, Admiral Noble was supposed to be played by Rupert Friend. According to Deadline, Friend had to step away from the project in 2022 due to scheduling conflicts. As such, Friend was recast early in the project’s production, with Skrein stepping in to replace him. One of Rupert Friend’s more recent roles was as the villainous Grand Inquisitor in Star Wars‘ 2022 Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, meaning his appearance in Rebel Moon would have inevitably drawn further undesired comparisons between the two franchises.
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An actor playing a major villain in both Rebel Moon and Star Wars would have drawn even more attention to the similarities between the creations of Zack Snyder and George Lucas. The fact that both A Child of Fire and Obi-Wan Kenobi were released in consecutive years would have meant the double-casting of Friend would have been more noticeable. Ultimately, Friend’s unavailability benefited the reputation of the Rebel Moon franchise by avoiding yet another link to the Disney-owned sci-fi story.
How Atticus Noble Would Have Been Different With Rupert Friend Instead Of Ed Skrein
Both actors play villains in their own way
Both Rupert Friend and Ed Skrein have ample experience playing the bad guy, hence one replacing the other so smoothly. However, their approach to on-screen villainy does differ slightly. Friend tends to favor a more level-headed performance, often only losing his cool during especially trying situations. As a result, Friend’s villains appear much calmer to the naked eye, which would presumably have made for quite a different interpretation of Rebel Moon‘s Admiral Noble.
Rebel Moon’s Noble Actor Details Uncomfortable Filming Process Behind His Nude Scenes
Ed Skrein, who played Admiral Atticus Noble in Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire, explains why his nude scene was so challenging.
Ed Skrein’s portrayal of a story’s antagonist tends to include his character’s rage being much closer to the surface. Although Skrein’s villains do have a modicum of restraint, their patience tends to run thin much easier than those portrayed by Friend. For Atticus Noble, Ed Skrein’s approach ended up being better suited to the role than Friend’s seemingly would have been based on his past roles, making the admiral a memorable character in Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire.
Rebel Moon
From director Zack Snyder comes Rebel Moon, a sci-fi action movie set in the depths of space and following a colony that is facing the threat of Regent Balisarius. Sofia Boutella plays a warrior charged with recruiting others in the fight against the tyrant, and his unstoppable forces that are dead set on conquest.
- Release Date
- December 22, 2023
- Director
- Zack Snyder
- Cast
- Djimon Hounsou , Sofia Boutella , Charlotte Maggi , Ray Fisher , Jena Malone , E. Duffy , Staz Nair , Doona Bae , Sky Yang , Charlie Hunnam , Cleopatra Coleman
- Genres
- Action , Adventure , Fantasy , Sci-Fi
