Thor: Love and Thunder has a ton of cameos, but it was set to feature even more, with the likes of Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, and Jeff Goldblum showing up. Now, writer-director Taika Waititi has explained why the additional appearances were cut.
"I'm not going to give you a moment because this is my way of telling you, like, people say, 'I can't wait for the deleted scenes with those actors,'" the filmmaker told Insider. "I don't want people to see the deleted scenes because they're deleted for a reason: They aren't good enough. The scenes were not in the movie and that's it."
Dinklage and Goldblum have both been seen in the MCU before, as Eitri and the Grandmaster respectively, so it's likely the pair would have reprised those roles. Headey's part remains a mystery, although early speculation suggested she could have been playing Thor's mother Frigga, or another character, in an Asgardian play sequence.
"I wrote the thing so when you cut anything it's a little bit of a challenge to yourself because you're like, 'Am I not that good? Should I have seen this coming?' But every film I've done I've probably cut the same amount out," Waititi continued. "When you go into the edit you just never know. A scene on its own could be the most funniest thing or intriguing thing, but sometimes those things if you keep them in will just make the movie screech to a halt. So you have to do what's best for the film."
The Jojo Rabbit helmer went on to say that Dinklage, Headey, and Goldblum "all understand how it works", and assured that there is no animosity between them. That may be true, but Headey was recently sued by her former UK agency Troika, after they claimed that her cut role lost them commission fees upwards of $500,000, or 7% of her salary for Thor: Love and Thunder. The Game of Thrones star has since issued a statement that points out Waititi approached her directly and there was no involvement by Troika.
Starring the likes of Chris Hemsworth (as Thor), Tessa Thompson (as King Valkyrie), Russell Crowe (as Zeus), and Christian Bale (as Gorr the God Butcher), Thor: Love and Thunder sees the eponymous hero try to figure out what his life's purpose is – all while navigating the surprise return of his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who has started wielding Mjolnir and going by 'Mighty Thor'. If you've seen the film, check out our explainers on the Thor: Love and Thunder post-credits scenes and the Thor: Love and Thunder ending.
If you don't have time to rewatch every film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before you head to see it, then jog your memory as to what's been going down with our breakdown of the MCU timeline.
