Red Sonja Movie Costume Revealed in New Photo

Fans of sword-and-sorcery cinema eagerly anticipate the upcoming Red Sonja movie. They hope the new film will be truer to the source material than the original 1985 film starring Brigitte Nielsen as the She-Devil With A Sword. Their prayers have seemingly been answered by a photo of star Matilda Lutz which confirms a more comic-accurate costume.

The costume was revealed in a post on the official Red Sonja Instagram account. The photo, which can be viewed below, shows Matilda Luntz setting a shot with director M.J. Bassett. The picture confirms that Luntz has at least one costume based on the classic bikini armor for which Sonja is famous. However, the costume appears to be a compromise between the classic design from the comics and reality.

Red Sonja movie costume showcase’s comic influences

When Sonja first appeared in Conan the Barbarian #23, she wore a full chain-shirt and leather breeches. Her infamous bikini armor was the brainchild of Spanish artist Esteban Maroto, who drew a pin-up of Sonja in the skimpier outfit. When she next appeared in the comics, John Buscema used Maroto’s design for Sonja’s costume. This standardized it as her default outfit, long before Boris Vallejo painted her on the cover of Savage Sword of Conan #1.

Despite this, Red Sonja has worn a variety of costumes over the years. Different artists have depicted her infamous armor with varying degrees of realism and skimpiness. The costume worn by Matilda Lutz is clearly inspired by the classic design, but more practical in its execution.

The costume design shows other influences from the comics as well, such as the raven-shaped war paint that frames the eyes of Red Sonja. This is based on Sonja’s costume from the Queen of Plagues storyline by Gail Simone and Walter Geovani. This is logical, as Queen of Plagues has been cited as one of the chief influences on the new film.

A release date for the new Red Sonja movie has yet to be confirmed.