We’re Getting A King Arthur Western From An Infamous Director
King Arthur is being retold again, this time as a western. Here's what we've learned so far.
This article is more than 2 years old
We’ve seen so many adaptations of the Arthurian legends on screen over the years. In 2017, director Guy Ritchie brought us King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, an epic fantasy starring Charlie Hunnam. More recently, Netflix brought us Cursed, a series following the Lady of the Lake. But audiences will likely never get enough of this classic English tale. We’ll continue retelling it in new and interesting ways. The story of King Arthur pulling the sword from the stone is the classic Chosen One trope that we see in most Superhero and epic fantasy stories. It’s no wonder we keep revisiting the classic. It’s also no wonder that now, director Zack Snyder is talking about making his own King Arthur tale, with a very different take.
Zack Snyder is the director most known for his work with the DC Extended Universe. He’s the mind behind Justice League. Long before that, he wowed audiences with 300. Most recently, he released Army of the Dead on Netflix, a film that follows veterans from a zombie war performing a heist in Las Vegas, while the city is swarming with zombies. The director is known for his big special effects and a dark atmosphere. It isn’t exactly expected that he might want to take on King Arthur, especially since we hear him talk more about Star Wars. More surprising yet, the idea he is currently working on tells the story of King Arthur set in the American West, according to what he has told IMDb’s Movies That Changed My Life podcast.
A western? Yes, a western. This is a particularly odd idea, since King Arthur is very much an English tale. It also involves Kings, so royalty. Will there be kings and queens in the old west in Zack Snyder’s new take? Will he have a different take for his political system that carries the same idea? This is an important obstacle he’ll have to overcome, since the sword is pulled from the stone, which is the legend that makes Arthur the king. It’s interesting that he has a fresh new take on this idea, though. So many of the King Arthur retellings have been similar in nature, and it’s honestly considered a story that is hard to handle well, even if we keep trying.
Zack Snyder brought up his plan to create a King Arthur retelling months ago. He continues to make the idea sound like a mere possibility, and only one that he is considering. It sounds like he is simply toying with the idea when he speaks of it. He says things like, “See if I can’t make those things work, you know.” And yet, the fact that he is still talking about it, and now it’s set in the American West, does make it sound like this is an idea he’s quite taken with and may be working on for a while.
Clearly, this Zack Snyder project is still in the idea stage, or at most, he may have some script written. That means it isn’t a project you can expect to be watching any time soon. If he does pull this together and find a home for it, many believe it will likely be something we see on Netflix after his recent partnership with the streaming service.
