Back in May, Marvel officially announced some of the new faces who will be appearing in Thor: Ragnarok. One of those folks was Jeff Goldblum, who many know best as Ian Malcolm in the first two Jurassic Park movies. Well, it turns out he isn't the only Jurassic universe alum appearing in the God of Thunder's third solo adventure. He'll also be sharing that dinosaur-shaped spotlight with Sam Neill, a.k.a. Dr. Alan Grant.
While plugging his latest movie, The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Neill revealed to ShortList that he recently reunited with director Taika Waititi again to participate in Thor: Ragnarok. He explained:
I'm not really allowed to say this, and I can't tell you what it is. I did a couple of days on Thor just before I came over here. I had to sign all sorts of things that if I say anything else, Marvel's secret agents, and they are lethal, will come and get me, and probably my children as well.
Ah, the infamous Marvel hitmen/snipers. They're always the major obstacle stopping these actors from spilling the beans on juicy details. Kidding aside, it's undoubtedly exciting to the Jurassic Park fans out there that Sam Neill will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Thor: Ragnarok, which is currently deep into principal photography in Australia. However, we'll have to wait a while until we learn anything about who he's playing, though if only spent a couple days shooting, that suggests his role will be a minor one. There's also no guarantee yet that he'll share any screen time with Jeff Goldblum's character, The Grandmaster.
Since the majority of Thor: Ragnarok is taking place in other areas of the Nine Realms, this could mean that Sam Neill will play some kind of alien that Chris Hemsworth's eponymous protagonist runs into, be it an Asgardian or an inhabitant of another world. On the other hand, maybe we'll see Neill as a normal human during the brief time spent on Earth. Either way, considering the rapport he's built with Taika Waititi, he most likely had fun for that brief time he was on set. Although this is his first superhero movie, Neill has already left his mark on blockbuster entertainment playing Alan Grant, one of the world's top paleontologists, in 1993's Jurassic Park and 2001's Jurassic Park III. His other notable credits include The Hunt for Red October, The Piano, Bicentennial Man and The Tudors.
Sam Neill is the fifth big, new actor to be publicly added to Thor: Ragnarok, following behind Jeff Goldblum, Cate Blanchett as Hela, Karl Urban as Skurge and Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie. Mark Ruffalo will also reprise his role as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, one of Thor's former Avengers teammates. The third Thor installment will also see the return of Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Anthony Hopkins as Odin and Idris Elba as Heimdall, among others.
Thor: Ragnarok storms into theaters on November 3, 2017.
