RED SONJA Star Matilda Lutz Says New Film Will Tell a "Very Women-Empowered" Story

While we continue to wait for a trailer to be released for the new Red Sonja movie, we’ve got some new details to share with you for the movie from its star, Matilda Lutz. She explains that the M.J. Bassett-directed film will tell a very woman-empowered” story and will also have less of a "male-gaze."

During an interview with CBR, she explained: "So, what I can tell about Red Sonja, is that the first ones and the comics were [made] with a very male-gazed orientation. This is a completely different story, and it's very women-empowered, which I loved about the script."

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone with the creative team that’s involved with the movie. I have no problem with that, all I want is for the film to tell an awesome story because Red Sonja has always been a badass character.

Bassett previously said that this version of Red Sonja won't be depicted as a victim of sexual assault, and instead of delving into "sexual politics," the reboot will focus on the character as a "human being in the world of femininity."

It was also explained by producer Les Weldon that the movie will also be more grounded than some of the other films in the fantasy genre: "We're just about finished with the editing. That film is very rooted and very real if you will, but there are a couple of sequences that we have to get the CGI right so that you don't look at it and go, 'Oh, that creature wasn't quite there.' So we finished the film, and we're ready to get into the next part of post on it. Red Sonja is also a little bit of a, I don't wanna say a darker take, but a little bit darker take than you would expect, certainly compared to the original Red Sonja. We want to be very careful with the CG to make sure it's done properly and does the film a service rather than a disservice."

The movie also stars Wallis Day (Sex/Life, Batwoman) as Annisia and Robert Sheehan (The Umbrella Academy, Misfits) as Draygan. Additonal cast members include Michael Bisping (xXx: Return of Xander Cage) as Hawk, Martyn Ford as General Karlak (F9: The Fast Saga, Final Score), Eliza Matengu (Thor: Love and Thunder) as Amarak, Manal El Feitury (Code Red) as Ayala, and Katrina Durden (Doctor Strange, Shadow and Bone) as Saevus.

The script was written by Joey Soloway (Transparent) and Tasha Huo (Netflix’s Tomb Raider). The beloved She-Devil With a Sword's story began in comics in 1973, and now 50 years later she remains the greatest sword-and-sorcery female heroine of them all!

Red Sonja was created by Robert E. Howard and adapted by Roy Thomas.