It's been quite a while since we had any official updates on Millennium Films' Red Sonja reboot, but the movie's Instagram page has now shared a new behind-the-scenes photo of Revenge star Matilda Lutz as the She-Devil with a Sword.
As you can see, Lutz's armour is pretty faithful to the later comic book depictions of the character (the skimpy chain-mail bikini was never gonna happen), and she also appears to be sporting Sonja's signature face-paint.
After over a decade spent attempting to get the project moving with multiple writers and directors attached at various different stages, Millennium finally managed to put its Red Sonja reboot into production in 2022, with Solomon Kane director M.J. Bassett at the helm and Lutz taking over from Ant-Man and the Wasp and Thunderbolts* actress Hannah John Kamen as the fearsome warrior of the title.
The first trailer screened for those in attendance at San Diego Comic-Con last year, but we still haven't seen any footage. Hopefully, this new BTS shot will be followed shortly by a teaser.
While speaking to Collider about the movie last year, producer Les Weldon promised that "fans will be able to watch it soon."
"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."
When asked how Red Sonja compares to another upcoming reboot he's involved with, Hellboy: The Crooked Man, Weldon mentioned that this will be a "little bit of a darker take than you would expect."
"Well, 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."
It wouldn't be difficult to be grittier than the campy original, but it doesn't sound like this adaptation will be going too dark.
During a 2022 interview, Bassett revealed that she decided to alter a key aspect of Sonya's backstory: her brutal rape by marauding enemies.
“I have no interest in fictional women who use [rape] as an engine of motivation,” she said. “It’s not a strong motivation. She’s just a human being in the world of femininity.”
Red Sonja also features Wallis Day as Annisia, Robert Sheehan as Draygan, Michael Bisping as Hawk, Martyn Ford as General Karlak and Eliza Matengu as Amarak.