Kevin Feige may have revealed a few months back that the days of Marvel Studios signing folks to six or nine-picture contracts are over, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be tying down the franchise’s biggest names for at least a couple of appearances when they first put pen to paper.
After all, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is in a constant state of unstoppable expansion, with two dozen feature film and Disney Plus episodic efforts currently in various stages of production and development, with Chloé Zhao’s Eternals next out of the gate when it comes exclusively to theaters on November 5th.
The eclectic ensemble features the typical MCU blend of established figures, fast-rising talents and relative unknowns, with Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek providing the requisite injection of A-list star power. In a new interview with Total Film magazine, Jolie was asked what the future holds for Thena post-Eternals, and the Academy Award winner played it about as coyly as you’d expect.
“I don’t think I can say that. Good try, though. [Chloé Zhao] developed them that way, or we’d been cast with that in mind, and then it developed further. And we felt very much who we were playing. It was much more emotional and personal than I certainly had anticipated coming in.”
We’ve already heard unconfirmed reports of a standalone Thena project, which may or may not be on the agenda, but you’d have to imagine that Jolie would be contracted for at least one Eternals sequel, if not more. Looking at how Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is lighting up the box office, should the MCU’s cosmic epic perform to a similar standard, then the cast’s options might be exercised in double quick time.
