Watch Thor: Love and Thunder Director Taika Waititi Discover What “Shipping” Means

Thor: Love and Thunder stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson have educated director Taika Waititi on the term “shipping.” Fans have taken to bringing their favorite fictional characters together in romantic relationships over the years, which is where “shipping” gets its origins. Dictionary.com defines shipping as “the act of wanting two or more fictional characters or celebrities to end up in a relationship, usually romantic.” Examples would be the shipping of best friends Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, and WandaVision characters Wanda Maximoff and Vision. During an interview promoting Thor: Love and Thunder, both Hemsworth and Thompson gave Waititi the rundown on what exactly shipping entails.

Fandango All Access correspondent Jaqueline Coley brought up Thor’s past shipping with Korg, Valkyrie, and Jane Foster. When asked how Thor’s romance is going nowadays, Taika Waitit interrupted to ask, “What is shipping?” After being brought up to speed on the term, he joked about the other form of shipping, when someone boxes something up to send it to another location, typically through mail order services. After asking for Thompson’s definition again, she jokingly responded, “Don’t worry, you’ll get it in like 10 years. It’ll hit your part of the world (Australia) in like seven years. You just got the expresso martini last week.”

Taika Waititi pulls double-duty on Thor: Love and Thunder. Along with directing the fourth film in the Thor franchise, Waititi also voices the God of Thunder’s newest ally, Korg. The two met in Thor: Ragnarok when Hemsworth’s character found himself on the Grandmaster’s world of Sakaar. He also teased numerous surprise cameos for Thor: Love and Thunder in the same interview.

He explained that he really does have to say as little as possible about surprise appearances in Thor 4, “Otherwise it won’t be a cameo. You can’t talk about it. Then they may as well be on the poster.” Matt Damon, Sam Neill, and Luke Hemsworth are expected back as Asgardian actors playing “Loki,” “Odin,” and “Thor” (respectively), with Melissa McCarthy expected to play “Hela,” in the in-universe production of Thor: Ragnarok’s story. In addition to those cameos, the Guardians of the Galaxy cast will be in part of the film, Jaimie Alexander’s Sif is coming back, and some famous comedic actors (Ben Falcone, Jenny Morris, Simon Russell Beale) will also be appearing in the film in undisclosed roles. 

What did you think of Taika Waitit discovering what shipping really means? Let us know your thoughts in the comments! Thor: Love and Thunder rumbles into theaters on July 8th.