ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to Twilight of the Gods co-creator, producer, and director Zack Snyder, and producers Deborah Snyder and Wesley Coller. They discussed the mature Netflix series‘ version of Norse mythology and much more. It is now streaming on Netflix.
“Zack Snyder presents Twilight of the Gods, an all-new daring and spectacular animated vision of Norse mythology. In a mythical world of great battles, great deeds and great despair, Leif, a mortal King, is saved on the battlefield by Sigrid, an iron-willed warrior with whom he falls in love. On their wedding night, Sigrid and Leif survive a wrath of terror from Thor, which sets them – and a crew of crusaders – on an against all odds and merciless mission for vengeance. This heroic story of love, loss and revenge, is a journey to Hell and beyond… across fantastical lands, battlefields fierce and bloody, and wars waged against Gods and demons,” says the synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Zack, could you talk to me about the start of the first episode of Twilight of the Gods? You really set the tone. I remember during the Rebel Moon press tour, you talked a lot about Heavy Metal being in influence and you can feel that shared DNA here. There’s sick action. We’re seeing animated dong. You’ve got sex scenes. You don’t sugarcoat anything.
Zack Snyder: Yeah, I mean, I just was like, “Let’s do this thing.” It’s funny because when we were talking to Netflix about the show, I was like, “Look, you know, I’m really interested in doing it. I’d love to do it, but I just want you guys to be aware that I’m gonna really go for it.” Look, because the thing is, Norse mythology, it’s not for kids. So like, let’s go. They were super cool. They were like, “Yeah, okay, whatever you think. Just do it all the way.” I was like, okay.
I think that that’s really what was refreshing and kind of fun and fun for us to work on. Because we just felt like we were just making this sort of mature, crazy, really expressive piece, and everyone working on it was inspired. So yeah, it was really fun to do.
Deborah, the films you’ve produced have really had some phenomenal and strong female characters. Could you speak to having Sigrid at the center of this story? Because Twilight of the Gods is really her series and she’s such a great character.
Deborah Snyder: Oh my God, she’s a great character, and Sylvia really brought the character to life. I think even her performance is unexpected, just as the character is unexpected. To kind of work our way through this Norse mythology with this female lead, with the center of it being the relationship with Sigrid and Leif, which is a romantic relationship, I think is just refreshing and really great.
I feel really lucky that Zack always portrays these really strong female characters and all the films that we’ve done, and they’re not these one-dimensional characters. I think Sigrid is s complex and she’s kind of throwing away the love of her life that she’s been with because of this revenge that she almost loses sight of herself and the things that she wanted and sacrifices all these things. I think it’s just super interesting.
Wesley, Thor gets quite the entrance in this show, and he’s such a great villain. I feel like the God of War video games kind of reminded people of how Thor really is in Norse mythology, but I still feel like this is gonna shock people who are thinking of heroic Marvel Thor, who many associate the character with. So what did you like most about using Thor as a main foil for Sigrid?
Wesley Coller: I think part of exactly what you said, I think a lot of people will come to a Norse mythology series with their understanding from pop culture of who fits in what column. Good guys, bad guys, heroes, villains. I think the fact that our characters may not align with their initial pop culture introduction or experience with them will create this opportunity for them to meet these characters and understand them from a different perspective. Probably arguably a more traditional perspective.
But then also, it blurs the lines. I think that if you look at Thor and, and sort of where he comes from his background, you look at Loki, his motivations, as you start to understand those, I think the lines get blurred. I don’t think there are clearly defined monikers they fall under. I think it’s what makes the story interesting and enjoyable to sort of take in an episode at a time and really absorb who these characters are in this telling.
Zack, I was curious if you would say that your approach changes for animation? Because Twilight of the Gods almost felt like more Zack Snyder than your live-action work. It felt almost freeing for you because a lot of the logistics go out of the way.
Zack Snyder: Yeah, yeah. It’s 100% like you could do a doodle, and then that’s the thing you make. You don’t have to worry about the humans and the locations being different from what you drew. You could just really [do it], it’s so the relationship between just the doodle and the show is much cleaner than in live action. It’s amazingly fun to do. That’s all there was to it.
Deborah, I love seeing your work in animation here with Twilight of the Gods. Is any update on Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas? Is that still stalled or is there any hope for that?
Deborah Snyder: Yeah, I mean, we had some trouble early on with one of the companies we were working with, and that’s kind of why that stalled. Then we kind of put all our effort into this series while that was kind of getting figured out. So I don’t really know what the plans, if there are any, for that to move forward.
Wesley, you were talking in your previous answer about the alignment of some characters. What’s so great about using Norse mythology as a launching point is there is so much lore and relationships you can play with. What was the most rewarding about really using that framework? Because you can stay true to it, but you can also tell your own story and go in some wild directions.
Wesley Coller: Yeah, I think the reality is that at the core of our story, it is this love story. It’s Sigrid and Leif. So I think that when we lean into that as our foundational story, there’s a lot of space between where we start and where we finish to then go in. I don’t wanna speak for Zack, but I feel like he was able to really mine the favorite parts of Norse mythology for him, from his experience with it, and say, I really wanna hit this note. I really wanna have this experience in there. So I think by picking a really foundational, meaningful character storyline relationship, like Sigrid and Leif, it allows you then to really interweave as much Norse mythology as you’d like to service that story and just showcase the fun and craziness of it all.
Zack, I feel like every time I talk to you, you always have your next 10 projects lined up. Do you have your next project already in development, or are you still kicking around ideas?
Zack Snyder: There are a few things I’m circling. We’ll see. TBD very soon, I think.
