The Huntsman: Winter's War, for those just tuning in, is the forthcoming sequel to the 2012 fairy tale re-imagining, Snow White and the Huntsman. However, Kristen Stewart is not reprising her role as Snow White for the followup; in fact, as far as we know, The Huntman shall not include (Queen) Snow White in any shape or form. Instead, the focus of this franchise has been shifted to Chris Hemsworth's Eric the Huntsman - though Charlize Theron is coming back as Ravenna, too.

Winter's War picks up some time after Snow White has defeated Ravenna in battle -  when the latter's sister, Freya a.k.a. The Ice Queen (Emily Blunt) discovers what happens and, with the help of the Magic Mirror, sets out to resurrect her sibling and reconquer the larger enchanted kingdom. Eric thus sets out to save the realm, with help from Sara (Jessica Chastain) - the warrior whom Eric fell in love with (and vice versa) many years ago, back when they both served Freya.

Blunt as Freya can be both glimpsed in and heard narrating the preview (see above) for the first The Huntsman: Winter's War theatrical trailer - which Universal Pictures shall drop online tomorrow (at the time of writing this). The Winter's War trailer preview does (however briefly) highlight the movie's four leads in action, while at the same time playing up the return of producer Joe Roth: a fellow who's made big-budget fairy tale re-imagings his bread and butter, with films like Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, and Oz the Great and Powerful under his belt, too.

The list of costars who didn't make the cut in the Winter's War trailer preview includes a handful of Snow White and the Huntsman returning players - like Sam Claflin as William and Nick Frost as Nion - as well as franchise newcomers Colin Morgan (Merlin) and Sophie Cookson (Kingsman: The Secret Service). Meanwhile, Snow White visual effects supervisor Cedric Nicolas-Troyan will make his feature-length directorial debut on the sequel - having stepped into the position after Frank Darabont left the project, back around the beginning of this year.

The Huntsman - Emily Blunt as The Ice Queen
Emily Blunt as The Ice Queen

Snow White and the Huntsman is far from being a critically-beloved film, but most critics and general filmgoers alike appear to agree: it's a serviceably flashy and entertaining, though hollow, contemporary re-imaging of a fairy tale setting for the post-Lord of the Rings trilogy fantasy adventure era. That's not exactly a high bar that The Huntsman needs to clear, in order to meet expectations for this franchise - and the movie ought to at least deliver in the eye candy department, between the visual effects (once again overseen by Nicolas-Troyan) and yes, the main cast alone.

For more on that, check back here tomorrow - when the full The Huntsman: Winter's War trailer drops online!

NEXT: The Huntsman Character Posters

The Huntsman: Winter's War opens in U.S. theaters on April 22nd, 2016.

Source: Universal Pictures