As his highly-anticipated superhero blockbuster Man of Steel prepares to hit cinemas tonight, director Zack Snyder is already lining up his next film which takes him back to familiar territory.

In 2006, he was responsible for helming the guilty-pleasure war flick 300 which became a cult-hit with audiences particularly for its constant use of CGI action and its cheesy quotes bellowed mostly by Gerard Butler as Spartan King Leonidas. Several years on, Snyder is now back to produce the comic-book film’s follow-up Rise of an Empire with its first trailer being released earlier today.

Directed by rookie filmmaker Noam Murro, the story sees another battle taking place between the Ancient Greeks and the Persians that occurred around the same time as the main battle of the original film. Rodrigo Santoro (Love Actually, Lost) reprises his role as the Persian king Xerxes whose back-story is focused on in the sequel.

Other actors from the first film such as Lena Headey (Dredd, Game of Thrones) as Queen Gorgo and David Wenham (Lord of the Rings trilogy, Australia) as Dilos are also back. Sullivan Stapleton (Animal Kingdom, Gangster Squad) and the alluring Eva Green (The Dreamers, Casino Royale) play the lead roles of the two new central characters in this follow-up.

The film was due to be released later this year but it has now been delayed until March 7th 2014.