Given how critically (well, to most people) and commercially successful 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok was, it’s hardly surprising that Marvel Studios brought director Taika Waititi to both helm and write Thor 4, officially announced at this past San Diego Comic-Con as Thor: Love and Thunder.
We’re still over two years away from the fourth Thor movie from arriving, but it seems that Taika Waititi has already made significant progress on the project. The word is that Waititi has finished the Thor: Love and Thunder script, and that the fourthquel is on track to kick off production at the beginning of 2020.
Although it hasn’t even been a full month since the news first broke that Taika Waititi was returning to the Thor franchise, we can logically assume that he and Marvel Studios came to a new arrangement months ahead of time. That explains why he’s already done with the script. Waititi inherits the Thor writing duties from Eric Pearson, who rewrote the Thor: Ragnarok screenplay originally worked on by Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost and Stephany Folsom.
It was previously reported that Thor: Love and Thunder’s production wouldn’t begin in Sydney, Australia until August 2020, so perhaps Taika Waititi is ahead of schedule and the time table has adjusted accordingly. If the cameras do indeed start rolling early next year as Deadline reports, then Love and Thunder will be shooting around the same time that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is, another production taking place in Australia.
All this being said, don’t think that Taika Waititi is completely focused on Thor: Love and Thunder right now. He’s putting the finishing touches on his World War II comedic drama Jojo Rabbit, and this fall he’s tackling Next Goal Wins for Fox Searchlight, which is based off the same-named 2014 documentary and follows a coach hired to turn the American Samoa soccer team into winners.
Once Next Goal Wins is finished, then Taika Waititi will devote his attention to Thor: Love and Thunder. It was also recently reported that Waititi had been tapped to direct an animated Flash Gordon movie, but that project has reportedly now been removed from the Fox development slate by Disney.
While no specific plot details for Thor: Love and Thunder have been revealed yet, we do know a little bit about what’s in store. Along with Chris Hemsworth obviously reprising Thor Odinson and Tessa Thompson returning as Valkyrie (who’s looking for a queen to rule New Asgard alongside her), Love and Thunder will also bring back Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, who will take on the Mighty Thor mantle, just like her comic book counterpart did.
Take Waititi overseeing Thor: Love and Thunder also hopefully means he’ll be willing to reprise Korg, the soft-spoken Kronan who aided the God of Thunder in Thor: Ragnarok with his buddy Miek. Korg and Miek also both cameoed in Avengers: Endgame earlier this year.
Thor: Love and Thunder storms into theaters on November 5, 2021, so keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates on its progress, and look through our Marvel movies guide to find out what else the MCU has on the way.
