It’s unexpected, unlooked for, and perhaps even unwanted, but audiences are going to get a chance to see it anyway. After years of moldering away in the ninth pit of development hell, the fans of the “she-devil with a sword” are going to get another chance to see a version of the Hyborian Age heroine Red Sonja take another stab at the big screen.
Millennium Media released the first still from their reboot of the fictional swordswoman’s origin story, which is currently in production in Bulgaria and Greece. The image bears far more resemblance to the familiar comic book version of Sonja than the poorly-received 1985 feature film of the same name, which featured Brigitte Nielsen in her film debut alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Loosely based on a character of the same name in The Shadow of the Vulture, a short story by Conan the Barbarian creator Robert E. Howard, Sonja became a breakout comics star of her own following several appearances in the Marvel Comics Conan the Barbarian series written by Roy Thomas in the 1970s. Famed for her red locks and her risqué and often controversial “armor” — which consisted of little more than a scale armor bikini — Sonja quickly became a fave of sword and sorcery comic readers.
That love didn’t carry over into the 1985 film, which was roundly ridiculed by critics and fans alike. Schwarzenegger declared it “the worst film I have ever made.”
It appears the Millennium Media version has nowhere to go but up. The 1985 movie effectively killed off any screen adaptations for a while, but in the past decade, several versions have waded through dev hell only to be quashed before production began. Rose McGowan, Hannah John-Kamen, and Amber Heard have all been named to play the title role over the years, but it seems like the part has finally been won by Italian model Matilda Lutz, star of 2017’s Revenge.
Lutz will star alongside Wallis Day, Robert Sheehan, Michael Bisping, Martyn Ford, Eliza Matengu, Manal El-Feitury, Katrina Durden, and Oliver Trevena, who all appear in as-yet-undisclosed roles. M.J. Bassett, who directed Soloman Kane, another movie based on a Robert E. Howard character, will direct Red Sonja based on a script by Transparent creator Joey Soloway.
No release date for the film has been announced at this time.