Thor: Love and Thunder Director Wanted to Introduce a Thor Fans Wouldn’t Want

When Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters this weekend, it will mark the second film in the franchise helmed by Taika Waititi. Though the first two features featured a more classic Shakespearean take on the Asgardian, Waititi’s version of the God of Thunder has been a complete reinvention. In fact, the filmmaker said in one recent interview we wanted to turn the character into a version longtime fans wouldn’t even recognize.

“I wanted to show him in a light that most Thor fans wouldn’t really want if you were to tell them,” the helmer told the Associated Press. “If you were to say them: ‘Yeah, I’m going to make Thor in love,’ it’s probably the last thing that a Thor fan really wants to hear.”

Coincidentally enough, Chris Hemsworth said earlier this year he grew bored of the character before Waititi boarded the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Thor: Ragnarok.

“I wasn’t stoked with what I’d done in Thor 2,” the actor said in an interview with Vanity Fair last month.”You know, I was a little disappointed in what I’d done. I didn’t think I grew the character in any way and I didn’t think I showed the audience something unexpected and different. When Ragnarok came along, out of my own frustration on what I’d done — and this isn’t on any other director, this is my own performance — I really wanted to break the mold, and I said this to Taika.”

“I think the conversation we had was, ‘I’m really bored of Thor,’ and ‘I’m really bored of Thor too!’ Then we decided not to be bored and anytime that feeling came into play we’d go into a different direction,” he added. “We just dismantled the character. We wanted him to be more unpredictable. We wanted him to be at a different set of circumstances than he was before and them have the humor come through. I had a great relationship with Taika and we had a great sense of banter and I thought we should cram that into this space.”

Taika Waititi, who directed Thor: Ragnarok, returns to direct Thor: Love and Thunder. He also co-wrote the film’s screenplay with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. The film and stars Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Chris Pratt, Jaimie Alexander, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Sean Gunn, and Vin Diesel.

Thor: Love and Thunder opens in theaters on July 8th.

What other surprises do you think are in store for Thor: Love and Thunder? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!