While making rounds to promote Hunt for the Wilderpeople at the Sundance Film Festival last week, Taika Waititi talked more about Thor: Ragnarok with Wired and SuperheroHype . More specifically, the director briefly discussed Tom Hiddleston’s return as Loki, as well as the possibility of Cate Blanchett portraying the villainess Hela, among other things.

“At the moment, everyone’s trying to figure it out, like ‘What’s he going to do?’” said Taika Waititi of the God of Mischief. “Everyone loves that character.” Though it’s been all but confirmed that Cate Blanchett will be joining the cast of Thor: Ragnarok, Waititi gave a long pause before saying “Yes,” the Academy Award-winner is joining the Marvel threequel. “Look, it’s so early I’m not sure exactly what the extent of it is, but it’s looking good, which would make me very happy,” he said of Blanchett’s casting. About the rumors that she’ll be playing none other than Hela, Waititi was a bit more tight-lipped. “Yeah, the rumor … Here’s the thing. I can’t say anything. I’ve probably said way too much.”



When SuperheroHype asked Taika Waititi why he’s making the jump from indie movies to the big-budget likes of Thor: Ragnarok, the director sort of implied he’s experimenting. “I feel like for me to keep this filmmaking job interesting, I gotta change it all the time,” Waititi explained. “This is an opportunity for me to make something that’s so out of my usual go-to topics and style of filmmaking and make something that’s big and exciting and to test myself. This is the thing. I’m so relaxed in my life right now that it doesn’t matter what happens. I just feel like this is just a great opportunity to learn something. You gotta do that, you just gotta keep learning and that’s what this is for me.” As to why he chose a comic book movie, “Plus also I collected comics as a kid and what filmmaker doesn’t have somewhere in their head that question, ‘Can I do a blockbuster?'”



When asked how he plans to inject humor in a movie based on the Norse apocalypse, or rather the comic book event inspired by the Norse mythology, Taika Waititi laughed. “Nobody knows what Ragnarok is,” he said. “I started reading about the actual Norse Ragnarok and that’s even more insane than the comics. Crazy! But that’s what I’m going to really concentrate on, really make an effort to change the entire thing. For me, I want to treat this as if it was the first Thor film, so we’re going to redo it. You just have to flip it and freshen it up, like anything. It’s also part of a very well-established universe right now, but that’s why they got me.” Speaking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which could see Thor: Ragnarok set up Avengers: Infinity War, Waititi said he’s not concerned about the movies after his. “This is the cool thing is that anything goes in these early stages, ideas-wise, and we really are in the early stages,” he assured. What do you think?



Starring Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Jaimie Alexander, Mark Ruffalo, with Cate Blanchett and Anthony Hopkins, Thor: Ragnarok is set for release November 3, 2017.