Zack Snyder Says Making Rebel Moon Part 1 and 2 Back to Back Was a ‘Very Exhausting, Long Process,’ Still Waiting to See How to Move Forward With the Franchise, ‘If at All’

Zack Snyder has confirmed he’s taking a break from Rebel Moon to work on other projects.

Star Wars-style sci-fi movie Rebel Moon launched on Netflix in December 2023 amid much hype. It’s set in a galaxy ruled by the imperialistic Motherworld, whose military, the Imperium, threatens a village on the moon Veldt. As the titles suggest, a band of rebels fights back.

While Netflix had high hopes for Rebel Moon, critics panned the film. IGN’s Rebel Moon review returned a 4/10. We said: “Zack Snyder’s space opera is let down by a derivative patchwork script, mediocre action sequences and a superficial story.”

Sequel Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver followed in April 2024, and it met with a similar reception. IGN’s Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver review was another 4/10. “The second part of Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon space opera, The Scargiver, delivers a half-baked conclusion to a well-trodden story with flimsy character studies and lacklustre action.” R-rated director’s cuts of both Rebel Moon 1 and 2 followed in 2024 and met with a more positive reception.

“I got sidetracked into this — not sidetracked, it’s all uptown problems, as they say — for Netflix, I’m working on an LAPD SWAT movie,” Snyder told Variety in a recent interview. “So I was like, OK, well, I’m gonna just sort of let that Rebel Moon world boil for a minute, and I’m gonna go do this.”

The Man of Steel writer and director, who is perhaps best known for his work on the now rebooted DC Universe, also highlighted the complicated nature of working on two projects simultaneously.

“Frankly, it was a very exhausting, long process doing the two movies together. So it was nice to have a bit of a break from it,” he explained. “I love it like crazy, but it’s nice to have a bit of a break. So yeah, we’ll see after I finish this, when I come back, where we are with everything.”

As far as more stories or even more film adaptations specifically being planned in the Rebel Moon universe, Snyder was mostly tightlipped about any confirmations. ​​“There’s tons of stories. So, I mean, I think it’s literally, it’s endless,” he said. “But, again, like I say, I’m waiting to see how we want to and in what way we would move forward, if at all.”

But it’s clear Snyder does feel like the possibilities for Rebel Moon are endless — because we now have a video game spinoff set in the universe to go along with the series, called Blood Line.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.