Rebel Moon: Staz Nair's Abs Mean More Than You Might Think - Exclusive

More than 17 years after King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans put on an impressive display of their washboard abs in the Zack Snyder action epic "300," the writer-director has brought another perfectly stacked human specimen to the cinematic fore for fans to marvel over.

In this instance, the well-toned six pack belongs to "Game of Thrones" veteran Staz Nair, who plays one of the band of rebels fighting tyranny in Snyder's new space epic "Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire." Nair stars as Tarak, who is one of the warriors recruited by Kora (Sofia Boutella) to fight against the sadistic soldiers of the Motherworld. Led by the brutal Admiral Noble (Ed Skrein), the soldiers of a Motherworld military operation have invaded the moon of Veldt in the outer reaches of the galaxy to seize a peaceful farming settlement's crop supply and enslave the workers to produce more.

In an exclusive interview with Looper, Nair said he got ripped for the role for reasons other than for the mere sake of Tarak appearing buff. "Zack is very aesthetically driven in certain ways, and not just in an objectifiable way," Nair said. "The beauty of it all is one of the amazing things of Zack's identity visually. It wasn't a pressure. It felt like an opportunity to rise to the occasion. Tarak's character, specifically, I don't think he wants people to know he's stacked." 

That's not to say Nair didn't work hard to attain the look. The actor and his co-stars underwent rigorous training to get fit for "Rebel Moon," much in the way Gerard Butler got ripped to play Leonidas in "300."

Tarak is introduced in "Rebel Moon" when Kora and her fellow rebels travel to the planet of Neu Wodi to recruit the warrior. Tarak agrees that forming a resistance against the Motherworld is a cause worth fighting for. "When you meet him in Neu Wodi, he's, at his own volition, enslaved or entrenched in a debt. He could leave at any point. No one could stop him," Nair explained to Looper. "He chooses, as a man of conduct and a man of noble stature, at least mentally, to do what he believes is right and at least hold himself to some level of compass — moral compass — despite his circumstances."

Another interesting thing about Tarak's physical appearance in "Rebel Moon" is that there's a story behind his physical being that is yet to be come in April 2024's "Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver." 

"When we find him topless, when he left his planet, and I can't say too much because that's 'Part Two' and stuff for you to find out, but he [at one time] was a clothed man," Nair revealed. "Over the years, these little remnants, these pieces — these fragments of clothes, especially across the front — are fragments of his life, the fragments of his childhood, the fragments of the world he came from are from the world he lost. The top of business is also still rooted in a beautiful backstory of a man who is not willing to let go of the only things he can call home."

Also starring Charlie Hunnam, Michiel Huisman, Djimon Hounsou, and Doona Bae, "Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire" is streaming exclusively on Netflix.