For a while there, it looked like Bryan Singer would be directing the new Red Sonja film, but with the continued issues around the filmmaker – from the historic misconduct accusations and more recent absences and firing from Bohemian Rhapsody – Millennium Films is going another way. Transparent creator Jill Soloway is now on board to write and direct.
While the character is associated with Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, it has more to do with Roy Thomas' Conan comics for Marvel. Howard's Red Sonya of Rogatino doesn't inhabit the same world or time period as Conan and doesn't wear a chain-mail bikini; it was Thomas that revamped her as the amazon sword-maiden we now recognise. She was previously embodied onscreen by Brigitte Nielsen in 1985, with Arnold Schwarzenegger also on-hand as the all-but Conan Prince Kalidor. While an effort to make a new film based on the character for quite a while, the latest push came in the wake of Wonder Woman's success.
Quite how Soloway will approach the character remains to be seen, but they'll certainly find something fresh. "I can’t wait to bring Red Sonja’s epic world to life," Soloway told Deadline. "Exploring this powerful mythology and evolving what it means to be a heroine is an artistic dream come true."
Soloway is wrapping up Amazon's Transparent with a two-hour musical finale this year.
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