Rebel Moon: Part 1 - A Child of Fire - The Snyder Cut Breakdown

The Extended R-Rated Cut

Zack Snyder is famous for longer, more hardcore director's cuts, and Rebel Moon - Part 1: A Child of Fire is no exception. While Snyder's shorter theatrical cuts are usually seen as proof of studio meddling and creative compromise, Snyder insists he actually worked with Netflix from the beginning to intentionally craft two unique versions of Rebel Moon, one two-hour PG-13 version, and one three-hour R-rated version.

Sofia Boutella as Kora looking up while standing among Imperium soldiers in Rebel Moon Part 1

With Rebel Moon - Part 1: A Child of Fire, the R-rated cut is Snyder's 'pure' version, featuring more sex, violence, characters, and story. The extended director's cut isn't due to arrive on Netflix until the summer of 2024, several months after the arrival of Rebel Moon - Part 2: The Scargiver on April 19, 2024, but the plot of the novelization gives a tease of what to expect from the extended version of Rebel Moon - Part 1: A Child of Fire.

Cleopatra Coleman with a blank expression as Devra Bloodaxe in Rebel Moon: Part One - A Child of Fire

The Director's Cut Details

The extended R-rated cut of Rebel Moon - Part 1: A Child of Fire will have a lot more world-building. Naturally, with more runtime and more story and more dialogue, more details about the world will be shared, so even if there aren't any additional lore dumps or explicit major reveals, the world is going to expand. In addition to the expanded details provided by the longer runtime, however, more details on Kora's past and Balisarius and the Royal Family and the Imperium and many other details will help paint an even richer canvas as the backdrop of the rest of the story of Rebel Moon - Part 1: A Child of Fire.

Djimon Hounsou as General Titus Crying Out in the Rebel Moon 2 Trailer

The PG-13 cut of Rebel Moon - Part 1: A Child of Fire cut out a lot of sex. In the PG-13 cut, the village gathering from the beginning where Sindri (Corey Stoll) urges them to 'make love' because the 'thrusting of hips' would help their crops grow. In the novelization, this moment is far more explicit, as is Kora's rendevous with Den (Stuart Marin). Additionally, the PG-13 cut teased a moment where Admiral Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) hooked his body up to a sort of hookah and had tentacles wrapped themselves around his neck. The R-rated version of this scene will be a lot more awkward if it's anything like the novelization...

Rebel Moon Imperium Dreadnought Travels Wormhole

Admiral Noble invades the planet Toa. Zack Snyder already teased 'a whole other opening that's all Ed [Skrein]. It's really crazy.' The novelization's first chapter reveals the details of this sequence, featuring Admiral Noble and the Imperium landing on the planet Toa in their hunt for the Bloodaxe siblings. When King Heron refuses, Noble bombards the planet from space, reducing most of it to rubble before launching an invasion force, personally confronting the royal family, who he has killed in brutal fashion. The scene teases Noble's brutality and sets up more of the Imperium soldiers and pattern of domination.

King's Gaze approaches Veldt in the Rebel Moon 2 trailer

The Extended Cut Additions

Zack Snyder's action will be more prevalent and bloodier in Rebel Moon's extended cut. It goes without saying that a longer, R-rated version of a Zack Snyder movie has a lot more violence, but that comes in two fashions for Rebel Moon - Part 1: A Child of Fire. Some of the added violence comes from additional scenes featuring more battles and fights excluded from the PG-13 cuts, but the violence already featured in the PG-13 cut will also be more brutal, including more explicit injuries, blood, and gore.

The ice lake rebirth womb in Rebel Moon

Jimmy disappeared from the story after Kora and Gunnar leave Veldt in the PG-13 cut released by Netflix, yet when all the warriors return, he's clearly gone through some sort of transformation as he stands in a field with a new antler headpiece, a cape, and a staff. The longer cut will show Jimmy's full character arc explaining what happens to him, and it's explained in the novelization. After Jimmy's interaction with Sam, he's moved to defend her in the granary battle, making him realize he can act outside his programming. He goes on a quest and finds Kora's crashed starship, which he fixes, and dresses himself in new clothes and an antlered headpiece, symbolizing the organic nature of Veldt.

Admiral Nobel Rebel Moon