News Red Sonja Red Sonja Actress Matilda Lutz Defends the Character’s Chainmail Bikini Matilda Lutz finds a deeper meaning in Red Sonja’s iconic and divisive look. By Matthew Byrd | Published on August 11, 2025 Screenshot: Samuel Goldwyn Films Comment 0 Share New Share Screenshot: Samuel Goldwyn Films While the official trailer for the upcoming Red Sonja movie didn’t inspire much hope that the oft-delayed project will live up to the years that have gone into its development, it did at least confirm the film will feature some key aspects of the character. It looks goofy, it’s certainly violent, and Sonja remarkably retains the chainmail bikini that has both defined her look and become the focus of several debates regarding the character’s reputation for embodying the concept of the male gaze. That trailer even features a joke about the outfit being more of a device for the audience’s amusement than a practical piece of gear. But Red Sonja actress Matilda Lutz doesn’t quite see it like that. While she acknowledges that the character’s iconic look comes from a wildly different era, she recently explained to The Hollywood Reporter that she and the upcoming film treat the garment a bit differently.  “In the comics, Sonja uses the chainmail bikini as a distraction, but we’re using it in a different way,” says Lutz of the wardrobe’s function. “It’s still such an iconic costume that it was important to have it, and her enemy Draygan uses it as a form of possession and power. But when Sonja has to wear the bikini, she owns it, and she’s able to defeat soldiers with full armor. So the fact that she’s in a bikini is kind of empowering in a way since she’s still super badass.” Interestingly, Lutz compares and contrasts the Red Sonja character to her breakout role in director Coralie Fargeat’s (The Substance) Revenge: a movie that dissects and subverts the tropes of the infamous rape-revenge subgenre in ways that required Lutz to perform in nude scenes that Vulture’s Jordan Crucchiola rightfully described as “harrowing.” Lutz notes that Revenge was meant to “push the male gaze and the objectification” of her character whereas Red Sonja uses the male gaze concept in a “different way” that she believes means the character is “never objectified” in quite the same manner.  Still, Lutz admits that playing Red Sonja was generally challenging and uncomfortable from a physical perspective, especially on the days when she had to work in the bikini costume. The actress says she eventually became “more comfortable as we went along” regarding both the physicality of the role and the outfit. She’s also previously stated that she had quite a bit of input on the design of the costume and that Red Sonja director M.J. Bassett was constantly checking in with her to make sure she was comfortable with both the attire and the ways it was used in the movie. She does, however, describe a harrowing encounter with a horse that occurred when the horse just “wanted to go back to his stable to chill and eat.” Same, horse. Same. Red Sonja is scheduled to (finally) receive a limited theatrical release on August 13 before being released digitally on August 29. Make of that what you will. [end-mark] The post <i>Red Sonja</i> Actress Matilda Lutz Defends the Character’s Chainmail Bikini appeared first on Reactor.