300: Rise of an Empire is a 2014 American epic historical action film directed by Noam Murro from a screenplay by Zack Snyder and Kurt Johnstad, based on the then-unpublished comic book limited series Xerxes by Frank Miller. A sequel to 300, it takes place before, during, and after the main events of that film, and is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Artemisium and the Battle of Salamis in the Greco-Persian Wars. The cast includes Lena Headey, Peter Mensah, David Wenham, Andrew Tiernan, Andrew Pleavin, and Rodrigo Santoro reprising their roles from the first film, alongside Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Hans Matheson, and Callan Mulvey.