Throughout the earliest stages of 300: Rise of an Empire‘s development, rumor-mongering pegged Xerxes, the megalomaniac antagonist of 2007′s 300, as the sequel’s presumed heavy; for nearly as long as that, early reports had Casino Royale leading lady Eva Green joining production to play returning actor Rodrigo Santoro’s co-villain. Fast forward to today and both are, indeed, fully a part of the film, respectively portraying the tag-team nefarious duo of the once and future God King and his general, the beautiful, vengeful, utterly lethal Artemisia.
Now, a new featurette has popped up online that gives both characters their full due, though not necessarily in equal measure. The clip, despite its name, revolves far, far more around Artemisia than Xerxes, though perhaps there’s sense in that; audiences know Xerxes well enough by now thanks to the events of 300, though with the passage of seven years there may be a need to reacquaint viewers with the leader of the Persian empire and his visions of world domination.
Yet interestingly, here, he’s totally upstaged and out-muscled by his second in command. Artemisia, without a doubt, is exactly the kind of person you’d hate to meet in a dark alley, particularly if you’re Greek; her story is all about her seeking vengeance against the kingdom that Gerard Butler’s King Leonidas so bravely fought and died for in Zack Snyder’s original movie. A featurette from a few weeks back already touched on the basics of her backstory, but this goes into even more detail and quite clearly demonstrates that Artemisia isn’t one to be trifled with.
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