Frank Miller talks Xerxes, artwork revealed

Frank Miller has been working on a prequel to 300 called Xerxes over the past few years which Zack Snyder intends to make into a movie just like he did with 300. In March Snyder said that Miller would be showing him the graphic novel soon, and the movie may be the next thing he begins work on.

Well Miller spoke to The L.A Times recently and along with releasing the first bit of artwork (which you can see here), he spoke about what Xerxes will involve:

On the story:

“The story will be the same heft as ’300′ but it cover a much, much greater span of time — it’s 10 years, not three days,” Miller said. “This is a more complex story. The story is so much larger. The Spartans in ’300′ were being enclosed by the page as the world got smaller. This story has truly vast subjects. The Athenian naval fleet, for instance, is a massive artistic undertaking and it dwarfed by the Persian fleet, which is also shown in this story. The story has elements of espionage, too, and it’s a sweeping tale with gods and warriors.”

On the characters:

The time frame begins 10 years before ‘300? and the story starts with the Battle of Marathon” … “The lead character is Themistocles, who became warlord of Greece and built their navy. The story is very different than ‘300′ in that it involves Xerxes search for godhood. The existence of gods are presupposed in this story and the idea is that he is well on his way to godhood by the end of the story. With Themistocles I have a character who is almost the dead opposite of Leonidas in that Themistocles was a lying, conniving, brilliant, heroic figure. He was nicknamed ‘The Subtle Serpent’ and he always manages to do the exact right things that will result in him benefiting greatly.”

Miller also said two other characters from 300 will make appearances in Xerxes: Ephialtes, the Spartan traitor, plays a part in the tale and there is “a brief appearance by Leonidis,” the Spartan king portrayed by Gerard Butler. I wonder in Butler would be interest in returning if his character is only in it briefly? There is also a possibility that Rodrigo Santoro could return as Xerxes.

Xerxes will be a six-part tale with each individual installment being released next year. Are you interested in seeing this 300 prequel on the big screen? I’m sure Warner Bros. will be eager to get it into development following the success of 300 ($456 million worldwide + $261 million on DVD sales from a budget of $65 million).