Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon will be an original Netflix movie adapted from a Star Wars pitch, which presents an exciting opportunity to see what Zack Snyder would have done with Star Wars, but could also be its biggest challenge. Zack Snyder has had a massive year in 2021, not only finally releasing the Snyder Cut as Zack Snyder's Justice League, but also making Army of the Dead one of Netflix's biggest movies ever (with more to come from the franchise). It's only fitting that he'll now get a chance to give his spin on one of the world's most popular franchises.
Back before the release of Man of Steel, there were rumors Snyder was developing a Seven Samurai-inspired Star Wars movie with Lucasfilm, although at the time the rumor was denied and Star Wars went in a different direction with the sequel trilogy and spin-offs after the Disney acquisition. It turns out the rumors were true after all, and Snyder will now bring the script to life on Netflix, but not as a Star Wars movie. The movie will be about a young woman who has to travel to nearby planets to find warriors who are willing to help defend her people from an attack by a tyrant named Balisarius.
Knowing the project's original pitch was based in the Star Wars universe adds an interesting context to the Rebel Moon synopsis. It's easy to imagine this story taking place between the events of the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy as the Empire is expanding, and many people have jumped to the conclusion that Balisarius was once Darth Vader in the Star Wars version of the script, and the warriors are may have been Jedi who escaped Order 66. While the idea of a Star Wars-ish movie from Zack Snyder unconstrained by Disney's family-friendly standards or storytelling constraints due to the canon of the Star Wars universe, it's going to be tough to escape the shadow of George Lucas' creation when everyone is going to be transposing every character, item, location, and event to the presumed Star Wars equivalents, drawing unfair comparisons to all of it.
With how iconic Star Wars is, every creative decision in Rebel Moon may be subject to an unfair dichotomy of either being considered a Star Wars rip-off, or being inferior to the original. For example, presuming the warriors are all Jedi, Snyder will need to introduce his own versions lightsabers and the Force, which would be hard to do even in a movie everyone didn't already know was originally a Star Wars project. Although, to be fair, while lightsabers may be difficult to figure out, there are plenty of aspects in Star Wars people don't like, giving Snyder the opportunity to be praised for "fixing" them, although it would be better if critics and audiences could simply let the story stand on its own altogether.
Ironically, Star Wars was in a similar position when Lucas created it. He originally wanted to make a Flash Gordon movie, but couldn't get the rights, so Lucas made Star Wars instead, taking heavy inspiration from Flash Gordon and a number of Lucas' other favorite movies to the point that many things in Star Wars could be considered a "rip-off" by that standard. However, not only were none of them as big as Star Wars is now, but also without the internet, the way people talked about movies was very different. Hopefully Snyder strikes a perfect balance with Rebel Moon and is able to both celebrate its Star Wars origin, while also bringing enough originality to diminish too many comparisons.