Thor: Ragnarok was such a smash-hit in 2017 that Marvel has invited director Taika Waititi back to helm a follow-up. Thor: Love and Thunder is significant for being the first time a sub-franchise of the MCU has received a fourth installment and the filmmaker needs to make sure that the God of Thunder doesn’t outstay his welcome. Thankfully, then, it seems that Waititi’s tactic is to go all out on making it even bigger than Ragnarok.
While speaking to Entertainment Weekly – who named him one of their Entertainers of the Year – about LAT, the director explained that he’s going to focus on making his next Marvel effort all about the “adventure” and the craziness. Essentially, if you enjoyed Ragnarok, you’ll enjoy this one.
“The next Thor film I’m doing, basically, we’re sort of launching ourselves again on this adventure film, really. That was the thing really that I loved about doing Ragnarok, it felt like we were just putting Thor on a really cool adventure. There’s always like new things to see and do, and this one, I think we’re gonna double down a lot on that and have it bigger, bolder and brighter. There’s just gonna be some really crazy stuff in the film.”
The big hook of Love and Thunder is that it’ll bring back Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, after she sat out the last film. What’s more, she’ll be the one to wield Mjolnir this time around and possess the powers of the Mighty Thor herself. Tessa Thompson is also back as Valkyrie, who’ll be searching for her queen now that she’s been named the King of Asgard (see Avengers: Endgame). Chris Hemsworth is still the leading man, though, as Taika has previously assured us.
Waititi is directing his own script this time around, with filming due to begin in Hemsworth’s native Australia in 2020. It’ll be a while before we get to see it, however, as Thor: Love and Thunder isn’t due to blast into theaters until November 4th, 2021. Let’s hope it ends up being even more of a treat than Ragnarok was, though.