Tessa Thompson Teases Valkyrie’s LGBTQ Love Story In Thor: Love And Thunder
Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie will get to show us a different side in Thor: Love and Thunder!
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We’re going to get to see a different side of Valkyrie in this summer’s Thor: Love and Thunder. That’s the word from Tessa Thompson, who first played the character in 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok and reprised the role in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, when Thor named her the new King of New Asgard. In a new interview, Thompson says Valkyrie’s LGBTQ identity will get a lot closer to the forefront than in the previous film.
There isn’t much in the way of romance at all in Ragnarok. While speaking to The Wrap, Tessa Thompson says that’s going to change in Love and Thunder. “Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of time invested in love stories in Marvel movies in general,” Thompson said. “I think that will be a little different on the new Thor, which is exciting. And getting to play a character that historically is not written for somebody that looks like me, all of that felt exciting.”
As The Wrap notes, Tessa Thompson played Valkyrie as an LGBTQ character in the first film, but there was nothing in the narrative that allowed her to actually express that part of herself. While she doesn’t come right out and say it, Thompson implies her character will have a love interest in the upcoming film. Considering some of the back-and-forth since Love and Thunder was first announced, there’s a decent chance we know who it might be.
Jaimie Alexander was one of the few regularly appearing cast members of the Thor film series who didn’t make it back for Ragnarok, due to a scheduling conflict with her NBC drama Blindspot. But in July 2019, when IGN tweeted that Tessa Thompson was looking for someone to be her queen, in a now-deleted tweet, Alexander volunteered for the job. While we don’t know for sure if Marvel took her up on the offer, her presence in Love and Thunder has been all but confirmed. As ScreenRant reports, the actress was in Australia at the same time the rest of the cast was filming there. In the meantime she had an interesting cameo as Sif in Disney+’s Loki series.
Of course, it could be that Tessa Thompson’s love interest won’t be Sif, but another Thor. Back when Love and Thunder was first announced, Natalie Portman’s return to the franchise was teased, this time as the female version of Thor which Jane Foster’s counterpart assumed for a time in the comics. It isn’t clear exactly how this will be achieved narratively, but considering the Multiverse shenanigans on Disney+, in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and expected in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it seems at least a little bit likely that the Jane Foster Thor will be a variant from another reality. Regardless, it could be Jane Foster with whom Valkyrie shares a romance.
We’ll know more this summer. Thor: Love and Thunder premieres July 8, 2022. Along with Tessa Thompson as Thor and the other actors already mentioned, the film will star Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster, Vin Diesel as Groot, and Russell Crowe as Zeus. The film will be directed by Taika Waititi and co-written by Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.
