Zack Snyder breaks down his bloody, explicit Netflix show's mature rating: "I was waiting for them to tell me to stop, but they never did"

"From the start, when they asked me whether I'd be interested in doing an animated series, I was like, 'Well, I'll do it if it's adult animation,'" Zack Snyder tells us of his new Netflix Norse mythology adaptation, Twilight of the Gods. "Because, for me, that's a new frontier, especially in America, this idea of animation that's not for kids, an adult animated series. And so I thought, in that way, if we could do that, that would be something I haven't seen a lot of."

The eight episode series follows a woman named Sigrid, who, after her family is brutally slain by Thor on her wedding day, embarks on a bloody, grisly mission of revenge. Along the way, there's plenty of gut-spilling action, explicit sex scenes, and brutal battles. Game of Thrones, eat your heart out…

"It's funny, because, also we've just had Blue Eye Samurai, which is also a sort of insane tone, but really fun," Snyder continues. "[It was] super fun to make, and the artists are all dying to do adult, something adult, so it was fun. Really, for me, it's just kind of my natural aesthetic, and it's just easier."

Executive producer Wesley Coller adds that the very nature of the story they were telling lent itself to securing that show's TV-MA rating, the equivalent of a movie's R-rating, too. "With the scale of the mythology and the themes and the story that [Snyder] wanted to tell, it leaned into that naturally, again, with [his] aesthetic. And so I think to have the opportunity to explore this story in this world, in a mature space, was just a no brainer." 

"And frankly, Norse mythology is kind of an R-rated deal anyway, to be 100% honest. It's pretty intense," points out Snyder. 

Of course, this isn't Snyder's first Netflix collaboration – he also has the Rebel Moon and Army of the Dead universes set at the streamer. Did Netflix have any guidelines for Twilight of the Gods, then? 

"No, not really," Snyder says. "I was waiting for them to tell me to stop, but they never did. So, it's great. It's the kind of thing that's good for everybody. I'm trying to think, was there anything they said was too much? I don't think so. I really don't think so. I can't think of anything off the top of my head. I was trying for them to tell me it was too much. I was looking for someone to say, 'Stop, that's enough!' But no one did. So I was like, 'Okay, I guess this is cool.'"

All episodes of Twilight of the Gods are streaming on Netflix now. For more, fill out your watchlist with our guide to the best Netflix shows or the best Netflix movies.