Chris Hemsworth Doesn’t Approve Of Taika Waititi’s Thor
Chris Hemsworth wants to play a more sane version of Thor than Taika Waititi's take.
Chris Hemsworth and Taika Waititi have worked on two Marvel movies together now, but it seems like it may be time to move forward. Hemsworth spoke to Josh Horowitz on the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast about his role as Thor going forward, saying if he was invited back to play the character “it would have to be a drastically different version in tone, everything, just for my own sanity… (laughs) … Thor lost his mind that last one.” Hemsworth also mentioned that it’s mostly about “reinventing” the character since Thor had similar characterization in the first two Thor movies before changing it for the previous two movies.
In short, while Chris Hemsworth seems to appreciate going in a more comedic direction for Thor when he worked with Taika Waititi on Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder, he seems ready to try a new interpretation of the character. This makes sense too, as Thor: Love and Thunder turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. While Christian Bale was great (in his limited scenes) and it was awesome seeing Natalie Portman again, the movie just didn’t quite live up to expectations.
Chris Hemsworth and Taika Waititi really captured lightning in a bottle with Thor: Ragnarok. Gone was the dull, Shakespearean Thor from the first two films, and here was a more lighthearted, fun take on the character. It was just what the franchise needed at the time and it helped to make Thor more of a fan favorite.
The goodwill that Chris Hemsworth and Taika Waititi brought Thor in Thor: Ragnarok made his appearance in the following year’s Avengers: Infinity War that much more exciting. Now that fans were actually invested in the character, Thor’s scenes became some of the best in the movie. However, the fumbling of Thor: Love and Thunder means that both the actor and the fans might be ready to go elsewhere with the character at this point.
While Chris Hemsworth is unfortunately needing to take a break from acting, you’ll still get to see him in two major films in 2023 and 2024. In 2023, you’ll be able to catch him in Extraction 2, the sequel to the kinetic 2020 Netflix action-thriller. In 2024, he’ll be going back to his Aussie roots for the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa. However, it does seem like both Chris Hemsworth and Taika Waititi are calling it quits on their Marvel careers for now.
While Chris Hemsworth is taking a break, Taika Waititi is ramping up to direct and co-write a brand new Star Wars film. So, while Waititi may be leaving Marvel, he’s still fully working under the Disney umbrella. Waititi has some experience with Star Wars already, as he directed an episode of The Mandalorian.
It’ll be interesting to see what kind of film Taiki Waititi ends up bringing to the Star Wars universe. In the meantime, you can currently check out Chris Hemsworth’s TV series Limitless, which sees the actor take on huge physical challenges, on Disney+. For Taika Waititi’s most recent project, you can check out the recent season of the vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, for which Waititi is a writer.
