The following contains spoilers for Thor: Love and Thunder, now in cinemas.
Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi recently revealed that the Guardians of the Galaxy initially had a much bigger role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster.
Waititi discussed the initial plans for the space-faring superhero team's level of involvement in the Thor sequel, in an interview with Insider. "The plan was always to have [the Guardians of the Galaxy] in the beginning and then move on," he said. "Because they have their own movie. There was talk about having them come back at the end... The thing is that happens in every movie. No more. No more of the cavalry coming at the end. So we shelved that idea. We just wanted Jane to come in at the end."
While Waititi's comments suggest that the Guardians of the Galaxy's relatively minor role was set in stone early in production, other aspects of the story apparently weren't decided until much later in the game. Star Natalie Portman recently confirmed that a significant amount of Thor: Love and Thunder footage was deleted from the final cut. "There were whole sequences, planets, characters, and worlds that didn’t end up in the movie that were hilarious and amazing and [that] we spent a lot of time and energy on, and certainly the entire crew also designing and conceiving," she said.
This unused material included scenes with actors Peter Dinklage, Jeff Goldblum and Lena Headey, none of whom appear in the finished film. Waititi spoke about cutting the trio from the movie in a recent interview, insisting that as seasoned professionals, they understand that this sometimes happens. "A scene on its own could be the most funniest thing or intriguing thing, but sometimes those things if you keep them in will just make the movie screech to a halt. So you have to do what's best for the film," the Kiwi director said of the editing process.
Waititi previously mentioned that the first cut of Thor: Love and Thunder clocked in at around four hours, and some MCU fans are already calling for Marvel Studios to release the so-called "Waititi Cut" of the film. The director himself isn't keen on the idea, recently expressing his distaste for the director's cut format and arguing that sometimes filmmakers need to be reined in. Waititi added that an extended version of the movie would be impractically long and reiterated that when he deletes scenes it's because they aren't good enough for the final cut.
Source: Insider