Zack Snyder first dipped his toe into the realm of comic-book movies with 300, a highly stylized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae adapted from the comic by Frank Miller. Snyder co-wrote the film and returned nearly a decade later to co-write 300: Rise of an Empire, and while speaking on The Playlist's The Fourth Wall podcast, Snyder revealed that he wrote what could have been the final chapter of the franchise during the pandemic, but unfortunately, Warner Bros. shot the idea down.
If you've been following the news, you'll know that the relationship between Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. isn't exactly in the best place, but as Snyder tells it, even he wasn't convinced that his idea would have been a fitting third installment of the 300 franchise.
I just couldn’t really get my teeth into it. Over the pandemic, I had a deal with Warner Brothers and I wrote what was essentially going to be the final chapter in '300.' But when I sat down to write it I actually wrote a different movie. I was writing this thing about Alexander the Great, and it just turned into a movie about the relationship between Hephaestion and Alexander. It turned out to be a love story. So it really didn’t fit in as the third movie.
"But there was that concept, and it came out really great," Snyder continued. "It’s called ‘Blood and Ashes,’ and it’s a beautiful love story, really, with warfare. I would love to do it, [WB] said no… you know, they’re not huge fans of mine. It is what it is." While we still don't know which project Zack Snyder will be tackling next, he has spoken about putting his spin on the legend of King Arthur. "I'm writing a kind of retelling of the Arthurian legend, that’s sort of set in a different place," Snyder told The Fourth Wall. "It’s like in the Gold Rush era of America. Kinda weird, but it’s cool and I’m really into it."
Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead is now playing in select theaters and will hit Netflix on May 21st. You can check out a review of the film from our own Chris Bumbray right here. Additionally, you can also check out Bumbray's interview with Snyder below!