300 Prequel Update

Frank Miller has announced some striking news on his 300 sequel. It’s not a sequel, for a start. And it’s not going to be called ’301′ or ‘Another 300′. It’s a prequel and the title is pretty cool: Xerxes. The L.A. Times quoted the graphic novel legend:

“It’s the battle of Marathon through my lens. I’ve finished the plot and I’m getting started on the artwork.”

Whilst I don’t expect you all to be classicists, but the Battle of Marathon gave birth to the mordern day running event. Why? How? Well, during said battle (which took place roughly 26 miles from Athens), legend has it that messenger legged it all the way to the ancient city with news of the Greek victory.

The main villain of ’300′ was, of course, the Persian emperor Xerxes. So what will the prequel focus on? The story will no doubt, as Miller mentions, place Xerxes at the battle of Marathon and set it up for his invasion of Greece via the Gates of Fire (Thermopylae), which we all saw in Zack Snyder’s original.

As this is a project in very early pre-production, it will be interesting to know if any of the cast will be returning. Rodrigo Santoro played Xerxes. Will he be shaving his head and putting on the jewellry again? And let’s hope Frank Miller isn’t directing the film and finds a good co-director. The Spirit tanked, but this writer doubts Zack Snyder will be returning.

Tags: 300, frank miller, Xerxes