Rodrigo Santoro (“LOST”) is set to reprise his role as Persian king Xerxes in Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures’ 300: Rise of an Empire (formerly titled 300: Battle of Artemisia), a companion piece to the Zack Snyder-directed blockbuster 300.

He tells Omelete:

The movie is set at the same time. The idea is to show another point of view. While that battle from the first 300 is taking place, there were others going on…

Actually, it’s all of this and then there is an intersection point with the first movie.  It goes back and then goes beyond that.  That was the initial concept.

Snyder returns as producer and cowriter on a script loosely based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel. “Camelot’s” Eva Green is already attached to play Artemisia, the golden goddess who leads Xerxes into battle against Athenian general Themistokles.

Noam Murro (Smart People) will direct the project, which is set to shoot early next year.