SDCC 2025: ‘Red Sonja’ Cast And Crew Talk Horses, Eyebrows, And More

“As a red head, I am in heaven,” moderator Felicia Day said as the panel celebrating the release of the new Red Sonja film began Thursday at Comic-Con International: San Diego. A project long in the works, stars Matilda Lutz, Wallis Day, Robert Sheehan, and Martyn Ford — along with producer Mark Canton and Red Sonja boss Luke Lieberman — charmed the Ballroom 20 audience with talk of unruly horses, eyebrow choices, and the training Lutz undertook to become the She-Devil with a Sword.

But first, director M. J. Bassett delivered a message via video apologizing for not being there in person — her status as a trans filmmaker from the UK makes coming to the US very difficult at the moment — but thanked everyone who helped create this Red Sonja, her stars, and the fans for welcoming a different vision of the character.

In person, Canton added that he has been waiting for “badass version of Red Sonja” and realized he’d have to make it himself.

For Lieberman, Sonja is both a sister, in her way, and an ancestral sort of character who might be made into legend around the campfire. “There’s something that makes [her] special and the trick is holding onto that,” he explained as various writers and now filmmakers make their take on the legend. “She’s a gutsy free spirit. And if you can hold onto that truth, young filmmakers can evolve it,” he continued.

For Lutz, developing Sonja began with the script and some of the comics. “I wanted to read them early on to get a sense of the character. She’s a warrior, but she’s also a survivor and I wanted to bring that to her,” she said. The actor also made a notebook of ideas and images. For the physical aspects, she did intense training and had to eat a certain amount of calories every hour-and-a-half. The training also included horseback riding, archery, and climbing.

Wallis, a veteran of genre shows like Krypton and Batwoman, had some of the key training already in her resume. But the film offered her something new to learn: swordfighting. “It’s choreography; every fight is a dance. The movements are precise,” she said. She also got more time on horseback. “I loved the challenge,” she added.

In the film, she plays Annisa, a villainous character originating from a Gail Simone Red Sonja story. “I’m drawn to villains. Not sure why; maybe it’s the accent,” she joked. Wallis also put her own stamp on the character by literally making her look icy, including bleaching her eyebrows — a choice that took a moment for people to embrace. “I had an idea of who she was. The ice queen from Narnia resonates with me,” she explained. “She’s haunted by these ghosts, so I wanted her to be mysterious.” With the addition of a platinum blonde wig, the character’s look became distinctive.

Annisa is not alone as a baddie, though, as she operates under the aegis of Sheehan’s Emperor Draygan. “He sees everything as a watch that you need to wind or unwind. He thinks spirituality is for dummies,” the actor said of the character. Abandoned as a child, he feels betrayed, but also “hides from himself.”

“He’s trying to burn the world and recreate it on his own image,” Sheehan added. “He’s like an oligarch tech bro … a clever moron.” He also joked it was “very difficult” for him to play someone so unlikable.

Ford’s General Karlak, a man/animal hybrid, had no such difficulty in embracing a bad guy role. “It’s everything I wanted to be,” he said. The character was glimpsed in an extended scene screened during the panel. It began with Sonja getting her iconic chainmail bikini — initially meant to be a further humiliation by Draygan and Annisa, it soon proves a symbol of her legend as she enters an arena to fight or die before the emperor and his coterie.

“I was nervous in the bikini because I knew I’d be in a crowd,” Lutz said of the scene. “But I felt so empowered and it was so fun to do the scene.”

“It felt like we were casting a spell,” Lieberman said of the moment. Referencing another scene, the first to be filmed, he noted being on the Romanian border on a misty night. “It was just Matilda and the horse and it felt like another time and another place.”

“It was absolutely magical,” Lutz added. She bonded with her horse via a different sort of training that was more about acting with the animal in lieu of riding it. “I wish I could go back and do it again.” she said. Sheehan’s horse — nicknamed “Spicy Harry” — was not as amenable and had to be replaced. Ford, meanwhile, discovered the horse he spent months training with was not ready to see him in full makeup.

“He just had this look that said, ‘I’m going to buck you off me,'” Ford said.

“The challenges are inevitable,” Canton added. But having characters in full makeup and riding horses was part of the mission statement. He, Bassett, and their team were committed to using as little CGI as possible. “My favorite kind of movie is defined by Red Sonja,” he explained. “You have to love the mythology, the fantasy, and the characters.”

The audience clearly loved all they saw.

During the audience Q&A, Sheehan recalled his first day on scene was on his character’s last moments in the film. And after having spent months getting to know the interior aspects of the part, going into public while covered in blood proved a challenge as well.

For Lutz, the question period came with extra pressure as she would have to choose someone from the audience to receive one of the prop swords she wielded in the film poster and held as she walked onto stage. Choosing a particular fan, she quipped, “I’m jealous, I never got a sword.”

Red Sonja debuts in theaters August 15th and comes to digital platforms on August 29th.