Netflix's Rebel Moon duology is a science fiction franchise born from Zack Snyder's original pitch for a Star Wars spin-off. The series takes place in a universe ruled by the oppressive Motherworld and its Imperium, where a mysterious girl named Kora goes on a journey to find warriors who will stand against the Motherworld. The franchise has received a mixed reception, with some admiring Snyder's ambition and others criticizing its similarities to better sci-fi movies.
Netflix 's track record of creating its own original franchises is hit-and-miss, at least on the movie side. While the streamer's had success with original television series like Stranger Things and Squid Game, its movies tend to either hook viewers or be little more than background noise while you fold laundry or doom scroll on your phone.
Simply put: for every KPop Demon Hunters, there's a Red Notice. Add in Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos' strange remarks about the theatrical experience, and the fact that most Netflix movies pack a massive budget yet feel entirely forgettable, and it's hard to get subscribers to fully pay attention. Science fiction fans looking for something off the beaten path actually have a Netflix series that might appeal to them in the form of the Rebel Moon movies.
Helmed by Zack Snyder, the Rebel Moon duology takes place in a universe that is ruled by the oppressive Motherworld and its Imperium, which has conquered every planet in its path. On the small moon of Veldt, a mysterious girl named Kora goes on a journey to find warriors who will stand against the Motherworld, all the while reckoning with her past.
What follows is a mix of Snyder's usual over-the-top visuals mixed with a collection of familiar tropes.
'Rebel Moon' Originally Started Life as a 'Star Wars' Spin-Off If you watch the trailers for Rebel Moon and come away thinking that it's a lot like Star Wars, your instincts are correct. Zack Snyder originally pitched the idea as a Star Wars spinoff prior to Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, which was turned down.
After his production company, The Stone Quarry, signed a major deal with Netflix, Snyder saw this as an opportunity to retool his pitch into an original movie. As a result, some elements feel very Star Wars-esque in nature: in lieu of droids, there are robot warriors named"Jimmys", while sword master Nemesis wields red-hot blades resembling lightsabers. Snyder's signature filmmaking is still present in the amount of violence and slow-motion shots, and they only increased with the director's cuts.
That's right: Rebel Moon has its own directors' cuts, and they are longer and bloodier than the original versions. Unlike Snyder's other director's cuts, these were baked into the filmmaking process from the start.
Snyder unpacked this decision in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, saying that he worked closely with Netflix to create the PG-13 version of Rebel Moon that would appeal to all audiences while the R-rated directors' cut was more in line with his "Snyder Cut" of Justice League. Netflix was apparently so supportive of Snyder's work thatthey went the extra mile to promote Rebel Moon,granting the series a limited theatrical releasein 70mm IMAX and even developing supplementary materialsincluding a podcastandcomic book series.
Despite this push,Rebel Moon was met with a mixed reception, as some admired the way Snyder swung for the fences while others felt it ripped off better sci-fi movies. Recently,Rebel Moon has surged back onto Netflix's global charts in certain countries, showing that the movies carry some appeal to audiences. COLLIDER Collider · Quiz Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive?
The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix 🔥Mad Max 🌧️Blade Runner 🏜️Dune 🚀Star Wars TEST YOUR SURVIVAL → QUESTION 1 / 8INSTINCT 01 You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one. APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it.
BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns.
Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it. EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 2 / 8RESOURCE 02 In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires. AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them.
BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity.
DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 3 / 8THREAT 03 What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of. AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid.
No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing.
EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 4 / 8AUTHORITY 04 How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do.
Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to.
Some things are worth the risk of being seen. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 5 / 8ENVIRONMENT 05 Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are. AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters.
BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand.
EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 6 / 8ALLIANCE 06 Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are. AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose.
BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities.
I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 7 / 8MORALITY 07 Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of. AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen.
Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed.
I know which ones they are. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 8 / 8PURPOSE 08 What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers.
Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot. REVEAL MY WORLD → Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In… Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for.
This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for. The Resistance, Zion The Matrix You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things. The Wasteland Mad Max The wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break.
That's you. Los Angeles, 2049 Blade Runner You'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely. Arrakis Dune Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards. A Galaxy Far, Far Away Star Wars The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ Zack Snyder Is Reuniting With A Pair of 'Rebel Moon' Alums The future of Rebel Moon is up in the air, as co-writer Kurt Johnstad implied that Netflix wasn't opting to move forward with the franchise. However, two of its stars are working with Zack Snyder on a new project.
Snyder recently completed production on The Last Photograph, a war drama he'd been developing since the 2000's that focuses on ex-DEA operative Ethan Black and a war photographer embarking on a mission to find Black's missing niece. The Last Photograph stars Stuart Martin and Fra Free, who both appeared in Rebel Moon.
Free had nothing but praise for Snyder, saying that it was a pleasure to be working with him and Johnstad again: "So yeah, it sort of becomes just like you're working with your mates. We really were... Kurt, too, wrote the script, and he's one of Zach's best mates, and the US crew that came over, which is maybe a team of 10, they were just all Zack’s buddies and collaborators. It was just such a good, good experience.
" Snyder has also hinted that he may return to the world of Rebel Moon following another project he's developing for Netflix. If history is any indication, he could definitely pull it off and maybe hook a new collection of fans in the process.
Rebel Moon Like Follow Followed PG-13 Action Adventure Fantasy Sci-Fi Release Date December 22, 2023 Runtime 134 minutes Director Zack Snyder Writers Shay Hatten, Kurt Johnstad, Zack Snyder Prequel Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver Franchise Rebel Moon Cast See All Powered by Expand Collapse
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