Near the end of August, it was announced that the long-awaited Red Sonja reboot was filming with M.J. Bassett (Solomon Kane) directing and Matilda Lutz (Revenge) taking on the lead role. In early September, we heard that Oliver Trevena (The Rising Hawk) had joined Lutz in the cast – and Trevena’s character was the only one, other than Red Sonja herself, we ever got a description of. The actor had been cast as Tr’aal, “a gladiator-type warrior who joins Sonja in her fight against an evil emperor”. Unfortunately Deadline reports that Trevena has since had to drop out of Red Sonja due to scheduling issues. They also report that Rhona Mitra of Doomsday and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is in the cast, but no details about her character have been revealed.
Bassett is directing the film from a screenplay by Joey Soloway (Transparent) and Tasha Huo (Netflix’s Tomb Raider anime). This version of Red Sonja is derived from the sword and sorcery comic books by Dynamite Entertainment, based on the character created by Robert E. Howard and adapted by Roy Thomas. Details on the plot are being kept under wraps. All we know is that Sonja is “a fearsome warrior boasting a high degree of skill with a sword”.
In the cast with Lutz and Mitra are Wallis Day (Sex/Life) as Annisia, Robert Sheehan (The Umbrella Academy) as Draygan, Michael Bisping (xXx: Return of Xander Cage) as Hawk, Martyn Ford (F9: The Fast Saga) as General Karlak, Eliza Matengu (Thor: Love and Thunder) as Amarak, Manal El Feitury (Code Red) as Ayala, and Katrina Durden (Doctor Strange) as Saevus.
Red Sonja is being produced by Jeffrey Greenstein, Mark Canton, Courtney Solomon, Christa Campbell, Lati Grobman, Andrea Sperling, Yariv Lerner, Jonathan Yunger, Les Weldon, Joe Gatta, and Tanner Mobley. Avi Lerner, Boaz Davidson, Trevor Short, Luke Lieberman, Nick Barrucci, and Dorothy Canton serve as executive producers.
It seems odd that Trevena ran into scheduling issues when his casting was announced after Red Sonja was already filming, but sometimes there’s quite a delay between events and the announcement of events. That’s a disappointing situation for Trevena. I do think it’s cool that Rhona Mitra is going to be in Red Sonja and look forward to finding out more about her character.
What do you think of Rhona Mitra joining Red Sonja and Oliver Trevena having to drop out? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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