Taika Waititi is an extremely busy guy. He's currently coming off of a crazy award season that peaked with him taking the stage at the Oscars last night to accept the trophy for Best Adapted Screenplay, and he's not only set to start production on his second Marvel Studios blockbuster later this year, Thor: Love And Thunder, but he's also currently doing post-production work on a smaller soccer-centric comedy he's directed called Next Goal Wins.
Given the filmmaker's heavy schedule, it makes all kinds of sense for him to get a bit of a support system, and that's seemingly what Marvel is now providing for him via a co-writer on Thor: Love And Thunder.
Variety is reporting that a deal has been struck between Marvel Studios and writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson that will see her serve as a co-writer on what is set to be the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The project is definitely the most high-profile that Robinson has ever worked on, though she does have a good amount of experience on her resume, having created the MTV series Sweet/Vicious (which ran for one season between 2016 and 2017), and written and directed the 2019 Netflix-released romantic comedy Someone Great.
With a release date set for November 5, 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder is expected to be going into production in the second half of this year, which means that the next few months are prime time to get the story where it needs to be. Taika Waititi seems to be committed to completing Next Goal Wins – which has Searchlight Pictures as a distributor, but no set release date – before fully diving back into the world of Marvel filmmaking, and working with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson could provide him a necessary assist.
Also, anyone concerned about this possibly meaning that Thor: Love And Thunder won't be as auteur-ish as Thor: Ragnarok need not be afraid. After all, Waititi wasn't actually credited as a writer on the third Thor movie (those credits belonging to Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle, and Christopher L. Yost), but the director was still able to lend his personal sensibilities to the production via design, on-set improvisation, and a substantial presence during the editing process.
With Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, and the sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home all set to go into production before Thor: Love And Thunder, things are still very much in the early stages for the project, but already some key pieces are being put in place. In addition to this recent behind-the-scenes hiring, the film has also revealed that the story will reunite Chris Hemsworth's God of Thunder with Natalie Portman's Jane Foster (who will transform into Mighty Thor), and there have also been reports that Christian Bale will be a part of the cast.
Thor: Love And Thunder is easily one of our most anticipated upcoming blockbusters here at CinemaBlend, so keep checking back with us for future updates about the film.
