Warner Bros. has released a new behind-the-scenes featurette for director Noam Murro’s actioner 300: Rise of an Empire.  The story takes place before, during, and after the events of 300, centering on the naval battles between Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) and Artemisia (Eva Green) and the latter’s control over Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro).  It’s been said before that Rise of an Empire isn’t necessarily a sequel to 300, and indeed writer/producer Zack Snyder says in this featurette that it’s really more of a companion film to the 2007 actioner.  Unfortunately this featurette doesn’t contain any footage of how Murro put this film together on set, but it does interlace a fair amount of new finished footage amongst the interviews with the cast and crew.

Hit the jump to watch the featurette.  The film also stars Lena Headey, Jack O’Connell, Hans Matheson, David Wenham, Igal Nao, and Andrew Tiernan.  300: Rise of an Empire opens in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D on March 7th.

Here’s the official synopsis for 300: Rise of an Empire:

Based on Frank Miller’s latest graphic novel Xerxes, and told in the breathtaking visual style of the blockbuster “300,” this new chapter of the epic saga takes the action to a fresh battlefield—on the sea—as Greek general Themistokles attempts to unite all of Greece by leading the charge that will change the course of the war.

“300: Rise of an Empire” pits Themistokles against the massive invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes, and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy.