Lifting a leaf out of 20th Century Fox’s book, Universal has announced a slight name change to upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman prequel, which is now formally known as The Huntsman: Winter’s War.
Confirming the switcheroo ahead of the film’s April 2016 release is a quartet of character posters for Cedric Nicolas-Troyan’s fantasy, welcoming back both Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron’s characters to the fray, as well as introducing the movie’s newcomers. Specifically, those newcomers will be Jessica Chastain and Emily Blunt, who joined Universal’s follow-up earlier this years as the Warrior Sara and Ice Queen Freya, respectively.
Set several years before Snow White ever crossed paths with Theron’s evil Ravenna, The Huntsman: Winter’s War will focus on her troubled relationship with her sister Freya (Blunt), a powerful ruler with the ability to freeze any on-comers instantaneously. With this power, and a heart-breaking tragedy to spur her on, Blunt’s character begins to train a group of highly-trained Huntsmen – Eric (Hemsworth) and Sara (Chastain) included – in a secluded part of the kingdom, but their attraction to one another soon scuppers any plans for her rule.
Here’s the official logline via Universal.
Long before the evil Queen Ravenna (Theron) was thought vanquished by Snow White’s blade, she watched silently as her sister, Freya (Blunt), suffered a heartbreaking betrayal and fled their kingdom. With Freya’s ability to freeze any enemy, the young ice queen has spent decades in a remote wintry palace raising a legion of deadly huntsmen—including Eric (Hemsworth) and warrior Sara (Chastain)—only to find that her prized two defied her one demand: Forever harden your hearts to love.
This, coupled with the title of the prequel, suggests that The Huntsman: Winter’s War will actually toe the line between prequel and sequel, with Freya returning to her rightful home in order to resurrect her fallen sibling and together, the pair wreak twice the dark magic on the hapless citizens of the Kingdom of Tabor.
Cedric Nicolas-Troyan’s film is now on course for a release on April 22, 2016, and we expect the first trailer to debut before the end of the week. Sam Claflin, Sheridan Smith, Nick Frost, Colin Morgan, Sam Hazeldine and Sophie Cookson also star.