Margot Robbie to Star in Robin Hood Spinoff Movie Marian
Photo by Matthew Eisman/Getty
Margot Robbie has been cast as the lead in the Robin Hood-inspired film Marian. Robbie most recently starred in the Oscar-winning movie Suicide Squad—and yes, it still feels bizarre to see “Oscar-winning” and “Suicide Squad” in the same sentence, but that’s the world we live in.
Now, Robbie will play Maid Marian, a character who is typically known for having little backstory and mainly serving as Robin Hood’s foxy love interest. However, don’t expect to see much of the bow and arrow-wielding, pointy-hat wearing outlaw in the film, except maybe in flashbacks—according to THR, Marian will take place shortly after Robin Hood’s death. Marian then finds purpose in her life: “to lead her people into a pivotal war that will not only decide the fate of the kingdom, but also see her don the mantle of the man she loved.” Telling that Robin Hood literally has to die in order for his love interest to get any real kind of plot line.
If you’d prefer the typical male-dominated Robin Hood cast, don’t worry. There will be plenty of other films featuring Marian as a pretty face sans “strong female character” traits. Apparently, Lionsgate has a Robin Hood origins film in the works starring Taron Egerton and Jamie Foxx, set to debut sometime in spring 2018, while Disney is working on Nottingham & Hood, which seems like it’ll be a Robin Hood movie in the same style of Pirates of the Caribbean. There’s even a futuristic Robin Hood 2058 in development, set in a dystopian London. Dreamworks and Warner Bros are also fumbling with the idea of Robin Hood films, and CBS is making a television series A Burglar’s Guide to the City, which features a whole team of modern-day Robin Hoods who are also architects, presumably all played by an army of angsty Joseph Gordon-Levitts. Safe to say we’re in for a solid decade full of Robin Hood.
We’d suggest that Robbie play the Marian character in all of these productions, in a kind of weird, character-bending commentary, but she’s all booked up. Aside from Marian, she’s also starring in the forthcoming I, Tonya, and in the Suicide Squad stand-alone Gotham City Sirens. She’s also in the drama thriller Terminal with Mike Myers, supposedly set to debut sometime this year. Honestly, we’re probably looking forward to I, Tonya the most. Like, by a long shot.
Don’t miss Paste’s review of Suicide Squad, in which we we discuss the controversy over Robbie’s character’s “skimpy costume and the male gaze exhibitionism of her appearances.” Will Marian be any different? We can only hope.