Zack Synder says Warner Bros rejected his ‘beautiful’ gay romance sequel to ‘300’

‘I was writing this thing about Alexander the Great, and it just turned into a movie about the relationship between Hephaestion and Alexander’ says Snyder

Zack Snyder has revealed that he began composing a 300 sequel during the pandemic, however, Warner Bros passed on it because it wound up being a gay romantic story.

300 is a 2007 American epic period action film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley. The film was co-written and directed by Snyder, while Miller served as executive producer and consultant.

During an interview with The Fourth Wall, The Playlist’s podcast, the 55-year-old film director said: “Over the pandemic, I had a deal with Warner Brothers and I wrote what was essentially going to be the final chapter in 300.”

“But when I sat down to write it, I actually wrote a different movie,” he said.

“I was writing this thing about Alexander the Great, and it just turned into a movie about the relationship between Hephaestion and Alexander. It turned into a love story. So it really didn’t fit in as the third movie,” Mr. Snyder said.

The connection between Alexander and Hephaestion has been examined by scholars for years, with some asserting that the two were very good friends, like brothers, while others stating that the pair were lovers.

Snyder continued explaining how he believed in the story enough to meet with executives about bringing it to the screen.

He said: “There was that concept, and it came out really great.”

He also revealed that he named the sequel as “Blood and Ashes”.

“It’s called Blood And Ashes, and it’s a beautiful love story, really, with warfare. I would love to do it, [Warner Bros] said no… you know, they’re not huge fans of mine. It is what it is,” he said.

The American screenwriter recently made a jump to Netflix by releasing his zombie epic Army of The Dead ending his 15-year-old relationship with Warner Bros temporarily.

Army of The Dead trailer

Snyder’s relationship with Warner Bros has bittered since the 2017 production of Justice League where Snyder departed during post-production due to a family tragedy.

During an interview with Uproxx, the director revealed that Warner Bros “tortured” him during Justice League Snyder Cut experience.

He said: “It was cool to do the Snyder Cut of Justice League and that was fun and everything. But Warner Bros still tortured me the whole time for whatever reason, they can’t help it. I don’t know why I’m such a fu**ing pain in their ass because I’m not trying to be, honestly.”

Snyder’s Army of The Dead will stream on Netflix from 21 May.