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Joel Edgerton is Themistocles in '300: Battle of Artemisia' Spin-Off?

by Ethan Anderton
November 2, 2011

After a breakout performance in the drama Animal Kingdom, and a fantastic turn this year in the surprisingly fantastic, though wholly derivative, ultimate fighting drama Warrior, Australian actor Joel Edgerton is due for some kind of high profile lead role. The Thing doesn't seem to have turned out as well as some would have hoped, Edgerton ultimately didn't snag the lead role in The Bourne Legacy spin-off for which he was seriously considered, but how about a lead role in the gestating prequel 300: The Battle of Artemisia? Vulture reports Edgerton is currently in talks with the actor to take the role of "Themosticles."

However, I think they might mean Themistocles, the elected archon and general who led the Greeks to victory against the invading Persians in 480 BCE, including effective command of the Greek allied navy at the battles of Artemisium and Salamis.As the title implies, the story will focus mostly on the Battle of Artemisium, which is where the Persian leader Xerxes, from the original film, fought Themistocles. Though Zack Snyder isn't directing this time around, he wrote the script for spin-off, from Frank Miller's graphic novel, with 300 co-writer Kurt Johnstad. It will be Smart People director Noam Murro at the helm of the action this time around, so I wonder if that means we'll get less slow-motion action sequences then we would with Synder in the directors. We'll find out.

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