Zack Snyder Says Warner Bros. Passed on His 300 Sequel That Became a 'Beautiful' Gay 'Love Story'
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Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic; Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures/Kobal/Shutterstock Zack Snyder (L); Gerard Butler in 300
Oh, what the next installment in the 300 series could have been.
Zack Snyder (who co-wrote and directed 2006's 300, as well as co-wrote and produced its 2014 sequel, 300: Rise of an Empire) claimed in a recent interview on with The Playlist's The Fourth Wall podcast that Warner Bros. tasked him with writing the script to "what was essentially going to be the final chapter in 300."
But as Snyder, 55, said of writing the screenplay during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, "I just couldn't really get my teeth into it" — and instead, he came up with something the studio wasn't on board with, according to the Army of the Dead director.
"When I sat down to write it, I actually wrote a different movie," he said. "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."
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While the idea "really didn't fit in as the third movie" within the 300 series, Snyder was excited to bring it to the table anyway.
"There was that concept, and it came out really great. It's called Blood and Ashes, and it's a beautiful love story, really, with warfare," he said. "I would love to do it, [WB] said no … you know, they're not huge fans of mine. It is what it is."
Warner Bros. didn't immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
Snyder has been outspoken about representation in film, having recently shown support for J.J. Abrams' upcoming DC movie, which is rumored to center on a Black Superman.
During a press conference to promote his Netflix movie Army of the Dead, Snyder told RadioTimes and other outlets that he is keen to see how Abrams, 54, executes the Superman reboot, calling the reported move to cast a Black actor as the famed superhero "long overdue."
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"My feeling is that I love J.J. [Abrams], I love what he's done in the past," Snyder said. "I'm interested to see what happens. It's a bold and cool and probably long overdue move."
He added, "But I love Henry [Cavill] as Superman, of course, I do. He's my superman."
Abrams (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates are set to work on the Superman reboot, with Abrams producing and Coates, 45, writing the screenplay.
"I'm not really involved in any of the decision-making at Warner Bros. in any way, so I guess for me it's just wait and see what they do with this and how it manifests itself. But on the surface, it seems interesting," Snyder concluded.
