Avengers: Endgame Star Carrie Coon Explains Her Decision to Join the MCU

Before she was cast in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Carrie Coon's move to the Marvel Cinematic Universe was one of the more surprising bits of casting in the MCU's short history. Known for roles on downbeat, artsy TV series like Fargo and The Leftovers, Coon seemed like the kind of person who might look down her nose at big, commercial ventures like Marvel movies, following in the footsteps of people like David Cronenberg, Jason Statham, and Martin Scorcese. Instead, she not only came to Marvel but did so as Proxima Midnight, one of Thanos's minions in Avengers: Infinity War and a character that made Coon all but unrecognizable in CG makeup.

During a recent interview, she talked a little bit about what drove her into the waiting embrace of Disney's Marvel juggernaut. It's pretty intuitive, honestly, but certainly interesting given what she is known for and the trajectory her career has taken since.

"I think for any job, an actor has to ask themselves, what does this say about the kind of work I want to do?" Coon told Collider. "What message is this sending to the world? Because for me, number one is always the writing. Number two is whether it challenges me in a particular way, and then number three, of course, has to be what are the considerations more broadly for my career? Because, frankly, if you want to have longevity, you have to think about it. So there was some idea of having come from a pretty auteur television world to jumping into the most commercial project that ever existed. There was a little bit of soul searching about that. But ultimately, I had done motion capture for video games in graduate school and it was a really unusual opportunity that most actors would kill for! And who am I to say no to that? But the process was just unlike anything I've ever done so it had its own challenges, you know? And yeah, I get asked about that, I've signed more autographs for that movie than I have for all of my other work combined."

Of course, Infinity War and its follow-up -- Avengers: Endgame -- would become two of the highest-grossing movies of all time, so it's not surprising she gets a lot of questions about that. In the time since, she has worked on projects like The Sinner, a USA suspense series with Bill Pullman, and a Jude Law drama called The Nest. Currently, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is set for a release in March.