Zack Snyder's latest Netflix project, Twilight of the Gods, is a bloody revenge tale rooted in Norse mythology. As such, that means mythological figures are major players in the show.
Of course, gods like Thor, Loki, and Odin aren't obscure characters from the margins of mythology, but hugely famous gods with a heavy presence in pop culture. How, then, did Snyder go about reinterpreting them for his own tale?
"Our take on those Norse gods is a little closer to the way they're represented in mythology," he tells us. "I know that they exist now in pop culture in a really cool way, but I don't know that it's 100% consistent with how they were actually represented in the Norse legend. So, I feel like what we've done with them is put them back to a more, I guess I would say, just a more mythological representation."
Naturally, creating a series about Norse mythology requires plenty of research. "It's a vast and incredible landscape of mythological source material that we're excited to have as this incredible canvas to work with," says Snyder. "We read tons of books, we talked a lot. One of our writers has also written a book on Norse mythology. A lot of dorks like myself have a working knowledge of Norse mythology. And then when you actually dig into it, you realize how little you actually know, because it's so rich.
"And then a lot of it was also talking about what our story wanted to be, and that we wanted to approach Ragnarok, but not get to Ragnarok," he continues. "And so, what could we do to kind of start to plant the seeds of Ragnarok within the context of our story, and how the gods would play, and their personalities? So, yeah, it was really just the process of evolution."
Adds executive producer Wesley Coller: "As a producer, it's important to know what you know, but it's more important to know what you don't know. Norse mythology is not something I was super versed in coming out of the gates. And so that's where we start to lean into Eric [Carrasco] and Caitlin [Parrish] and Peter [Aperlo], our writers, along with Zack's knowledge. And like Zack said, Peter wrote a book on Norse mythology. So, to have these amazing people who are so versed in it, and know those stories and can unpack that, it's just a great opportunity to hear people who are experts, and lean into their knowledge as we shape the show."
And while we won't spoil anything here, it's safe to say that Twilight of the Gods ends in a way that leaves it wide open for a continuation. "We had a longer story, and we kind of stopped it there, so we know what we want everyone to do," Snyder explains. "But it felt like a great place to stop, because it's a great ending."
All episodes of Twilight of the Gods are streaming on Netflix now. For more, check out Snyder and Coller on the show's mature-rating, as well as our guide to the best Netflix shows and best Netflix movies to fill out your watchlist.
