Rodrigo Santoro talks ‘300 Rise of an Empire,’ Xerxes, timeline and details

Rodrigo Santoro is set to co-star as a trouble maker-turned hero in director Kim Jee-woon’s “The Last Stand”  starring alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger as the town sheriff. Monday Santoro gave Collider a quick update on the upcoming sequel to “300.”

Rodrigo Santoro as Xerxes in “300”

“Yeah, I mean it’s coming out in August.  I’m not sure about the day.  I heard the second, but I’m not sure.  It’s August.  They’re happy.  I’ve heard they’re very happy with it, which makes me happy.  It was great.  Shot in Bulgaria.  I play the same character, little different…you get a little more of his backstory, a little bit here and there.  I can’t talk much because I’m not allowed to, but I think it’s going to be pretty cool.”

They being the studio as “Rise of an Empire” (The name has changed a few times) is slated for August 2. More details:

“It takes place in the same time, you start a little earlier but then you see that it’s like a different point of view, a different camera, a different angle,” said co-star Rodrigo Santoro in an interview early last year. “While that battle was happening, the one that you saw in 300, there was another battle happening next to it and you will have a chance to see all of that happening and how they interact.”

“It would be about Xerxes at first, but then they changed the whole thing,” he said in an interview with CBR this week. “I would say that you get to know a little bit about [Xerxes’] backstory, which I thought is pretty cool.”

What was called “Battle of Artemisia” at one time, the film is still certain to center around star Eva Green and co-star Sullivan Stapleton who plays Themistocles.