The roster of heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to grow quite substantially in November, as Chloe Zhao’s Eternals arrives in theaters and introduces about a dozen new characters to the franchise. The film is centered around a group of ancient and powerful beings, who have lived on earth for thousands of years and protected it from Deviants. Eternals will dive deep into the past for these characters, but their future in the MCU remains a question mark for fans.
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Angelina Jolie, undoubtedly the biggest name on the Eternals cast list, plays one of the group’s most well-known character, Athena, which leaves a lot of Marvel fans wondering if she’ll be back for more adventures after this first movie. Gone are the days of nine-film contracts for most of the MCU stars, so there’s no telling if Jolie is planning for a long stay in the franchise or just a single outing. With almost two months left before the movie comes out, Jolie isn’t showing her hand just yet.
“I don’t think I can say that,” Jolie told Total Film, when asked about her plans to return down the line. “Good try, though.”ย
That doesn’t offer a lot of information, but there’s likely a reason for her being coy beyond Marvel’s usual secret-keeping policies. Since there hasn’t yet been any announcements regarding a potential Eternals sequel, or when the next appearance from the characters will be, their fate is up in the air. Even hinting that she could return in the future could give away something about Jolie’s role in the film.
While she didn’t really give any hints about Thena’s future, Jolie did share her love of the role with Total Film. She explained that Zhao cast each of the actors for their specific roles for a reason, giving them a deeper connection to their characters.
“She developed them [that way] – or we’d been cast with that in mind, and then it developed further,” Jolie said. “And we felt very much who we were playing. It was much more emotional and personal than I certainly had anticipated coming in.”
“I think a good thing about this film is, it’s not diversity for the sake of diversity,” the actress added. “Part of the original idea is, if you’re going to have Eternals and they’re going to blend into the Earth across the globe, they have to be on the globe. And still, we have places we need to go that are unexplored. But it certainly just felt right.”
Marvel’s Eternals is set to arrive in theaters on November 5th.
