300: Rise of an Empire trailer

Swords at the ready... sandals prepped... loin cloths securely in place... the trailer for '300: Rise of an Empire' has arrived and it means bloody, scything business.

Following the release yesterday of the film's first poster, which depicted star Sullivan Stapleton in front of a towering wave of blood, we've now had a glimpse of the action.

The body count starts racking up seriously quickly, with a grave-sounding Lena Headey – used to the flowing, ancient-syle garb from her continuing role as Cersei in 'Game of Thrones' – setting the tone from the off.

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She plays Queen Gorgo of Sparta heading into the Battle of Artemisium, a three-day series of engagements which took place during the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480BC.

The action is based on the version of events told by legendary graphic novelist Frank Miller in his latest work 'Xerxes' - he also penned '300'.

The Greek general Themistocles will find himself as the centre of the plot, played by Stapleton, as he heads into battle with the mortal-turned-god and King of Persia, Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), and the vengeful Artemisia (Eva Green), the commander of the Persian navy.

Themistocles aims to unite all of Greece to battle the invading forces, but as in '300', it appears that the odds may be somewhat stacked against them.

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It's directed by Noam Murro, and by the eye-popping special effects, was likely to be a rather green-screen centric shoot, much like the pioneering first film, directed by Zack Snyder (Snyder returns as a producer on the film).

After the announcement it was being delayed last month, it's now due out on March 7, 2014.