How movie 'The Huntsman: Winter's War' got its name

The Huntsman: Winter's War, out Friday, is the follow-up to 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman. But is it a sequel? A prequel? A spinoff? (Short answer: all three.) And what's with the name?

These are all valid questions, we think, so we posed them to writer Evan Spiliotopoulis at last week's Huntsman premiere.

"Actually, I think there were two projects that were being developed: There was a Snow White and the Huntsman part 2, and we always intended to do a spinoff on the Huntsman's character," said Spiliotopoulis. "The chips fell, the spinoff happened."

Added Chris Hemsworth, who plays the titular huntsman, "We talked about doing both, and I think they still may happen and I'd love to be a part of both."

OK, so the new movie hitting theaters is a spinoff. But the movie does travel back before Snow White time and feature Charlize Theron's Ravenna from the original movie-- like a prequel would -- and flashes forward to after Snow White marries her prince -- like a sequel would. So it's kind of all three.

Regarding the title, "It came as a surprise to me," said Spiliotopoulis. But, he reasoned, it makes sense, "because the film's theme's so much set in the wintry world created by Freya, the wonderful Emily Blunt character."

"It's actually a line of dialogue in the first film. At one point Eric (the Huntsman) is telling Snow White about his past, and he talks about fighting in the winter's war," he said.

This is not a line we could recall, but we believe him.

As for why "Huntsman" made the title and why other strong female characters did not-- with Snow White barely even making the movie-- Spiliotopoulis said, "This is very much about Eric and his wife Sara that is alluded to in the first film." So the Blunt and Theron characters are important, but aren't the protagonists. As for Kristen Stewart's Snow White, "there wasn't really a place for her," he said.