Hannah John-Kamen To Star In ‘Red Sonja’ Feature

A new Red Sonja has at last been found.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hannah John-Kamen will play the She-Devil with a Sword in the long-in-the-works picture from Millennium Pictures, director Joey Soloway, and co-writer Tasha Huo. The film is based on the Robert E. Howard character as re-imagined by Marvel greats Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith in the early 1970s. As opposed to Howard’s 17th Century pirate, the better known Sonja also wanders the wastes and oases of the Hyborian Age that Conan begrudgingly calls home. In revising Sonja, Thomas also gave Conan a great foil who would later get a chance to shine in the pages of Marvel Feature and her own self-titled comic book series.

Following the success of 1982 Conan the Barbarian feature film, executive producer Dino De Laurentiis obtained the rights to the character. The resulting 1985 film, Red Sonja, starring Brigitte Nielsen in the title role, was intended as a direct tie to the earlier Conan films with Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role. But De Laurentiis became gunshy and the character’s name was changed to Kalidor. The film was not well-regarded, but does have a bit of a cult following and an entry in Comicon’s Your Weekend Cheesy Movie column.

Since the time of that film, various people like disgraced filmmaker Bryan Singer and Alita: Battle Angel director Robert Rodriguez have attempted to make new Red Sonja films or television series. Millennium was involved since the Singer incarnation, replacing him with Soloway after numerous allegations against Singer came to light.

With a star finally in place, the film could begin shooting soon and, potentially, make for a 2023 release.