Red Sonja is ready to charge into battle. A new movie starring the iconic Sword and Sorcery heroine has begun shooting at last. Millennium Media has announced that they have started principal photography on the anticipated comic book movie adaptation, titled simply Red Sonja. Shooting is taking place in Bulgaria, and later, in Greece. Although Hannah John Kamen was initially announced as the lead in the Red Sonja movie, the film now has a new star attached with Matilda Lutz. And we have our first look at Lutz as Red Sonja with the below image.
Additionally, Wallis Day (Batwoman) will star as Annisia, and Robert Sheehan (The Umbrella Academy) as Draygan. M.J. Bassett (Solomon Kane) will be directing from a script written by Joey Soloway (Transparent) and Tasha Huo (Netflix’s Tomb Raider). The modern Dynamite Comics series, largely written by writer Gail Simone, will serve as inspiration.
In a statement, director M.J. Bassett said the following:
I’ve wanted to make a Red Sonja movie since I was a teenager – she has been a powerful presence for me and a character that I have always wanted to bring to the screen with my own voice and vision. When I met Matilda Lutz, I knew she had all the magic I was looking for and could see the complexity and depth she would bring to Sonja.
Further cast includes Michael Bisping (xXx: Return of Xander Cage) as Hawk, Martyn Ford as General Karlak (F9: The Fast Saga), Eliza Matengu (Thor: Love and Thunder) as Amarak, Manal El Feitury (Code Red) as Ayala, and Katrina Durden (Doctor Strange) as Saevus. Oliver Trevena has also joined the cast as “Tr’aal, a gladiator-type warrior who joins Sonja (Lutz) in her fight against the evil emperor.” Meanwhile, Veronica Ferres will play the “mother of Red Sonja and the Goddess Ashera.” A release notes that the originally announced lead for the Red Sonja movie, Hannah John Kamen, “has stepped aside as the lead of Red Sonja due to scheduling conflicts.”
Red Sonja originated back in the 1970s Marvel Comics series Conan the Barbarian. So you might be wondering why she’s not actually an MCU character. True, she originally was a Marvel hero. But she was an amalgamation of several different characters from the mind of Conan’s creator Robert E. Howard. One was “Red Sonya of Rogatino.” That Red Sonya was not a one-for-one for the heroine we know today. But she was clearly an inspiration. A Red Sonja movie did release in the ’80s. But we have a feeling this one will be more comics-accurate. We have no release date so far for the new Red Sonja, but we expect it sometime in 2023 or 2024.
Originally published on August 23, 2022.
