Summary
- Anthony Hopkins' character in Rebel Moon will be expanded in the first sequel, The Scargiver.
- Hopkins' character, Jimmy, will have scenes that flesh out his story in the director's cut of Part One.
- The conflict in Part Two will test Jimmy's loyalty and his willingness to stand up for the villagers.
As the character's introduction nears, Zack Snyder is teasing Anthony Hopkins' expanded role in the Rebel Moon franchise, teasing a unique and Viking-inspired design for his armor.
Ahead of the movie's release, Screen Rant interviewed Zack Snyder to get some insight on both Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire and his future plans for the Netflix franchise. When asked about Hopkins' role in the movie, the former DC filmmaker detailed how Jimmy will be expanded in the first sequel, Part Two: The Scargiver, as well as teasing extra scenes involving the character in Part One's director's cut that flesh out his story. Check out what Snyder shared below:
I'll just quickly say that in the director's cut, there's a bit more of Jimmy. You can imagine. I think that Anthony, when we talked about it, just seemed to be really interested in exploring the humanity of a robot. When I pitched it to him, that's kind of what I said. "That's kind of what you would be doing". And he was like, "Oh, that's cool. Yeah, wow, okay. What is that?" I think that got his gears turning.
In Part 2, I don't think I'm going to be giving too much away by saying that there's a chance there's more conflict coming. I think that Jimmy has to make a choice about how much will he really stand up for the villagers? It's cool.
Could Rebel Moon's Conflict Extend Beyond Part 2?
Snyder's comments of Jimmy having to make a choice of whether to fight for the villagers seemingly points towards Hopkins' Rebel Moon character having either a smaller role in Part One: A Child of Fire, or remaining behind while Kora ventures through the galaxy to recruit her other warriors. Given little is known about his character, save for being the last of his race and having served under a fallen king, it would be interesting to see if this reluctance to fight stems from a sense of guilt for the death of said former ruler. This could, in turn, put Jimmy on a path to seeking redemption by bringing down Imperium, or defend the villagers should the invading forces return after Kora's initial fight.
The other point of intrigue from the above tease is whether the conflict will ultimately be resolved by the end of The Scargiver's story. Considering just how powerful the corrupt government is, Kora and her fighters might not be able to successfully defeat them by the sequel's end but could set the stage for an epic final battle against Fra Fee's Regent Balisarius and Ed Skrein's Atticus Noble. Given how dedicated Snyder is to building out the Rebel Moon world beyond the first two movies, including a third movie already being scripted by the filmmaker and his plans for a "trilogy of sequels", it does seem likely that he would either continue the conflict against Imperium beyond The Scargiver, or introduce another threat.
Snyder is also planning an animated Rebel Moon show, various comics, including a direct prequel to the movies, and a role-playing video game.
The one hurdle that could stand in the way of these plans would be if the first two Rebel Moon movies underperform for Netflix. Early reviews for Part One: A Child of Fire have been largely negative, setting a new Snyder low with its debut score of 9% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, a drastic change from the relatively positive reviews both Army of the Dead and Army of Thieves received a few years prior. However, considering how ionate Snyder's fanbase is for any new material from the director, it does seem likely viewership numbers will prove strong enough to continue building the franchise, leaving the door open for the filmmaker to take in the lessons from critics and improve with subsequent installments.
