Despite Wishes, Natalie Portman Is Forced To Reprise Her Role In Thor Sequel

With filming underway for Thor: The Dark World rumors are circulating to no surprise that Natalie Portman is not happy with her involvement in the sequel. Portman, who plays Thor’s love interest, Jane Foster, is said to have been contractually forced back into the sequel despite her wishes to duck out of the franchise.

Rumors first started swirling over Portman’s discontentment with the direction of the franchise when director Patty Jenkins was fired from directing the next installment. Jenkins, who would have been the first woman to direct a film in the Marvel franchise, was a word of mouth recommendation from Natalie Portman.

Although Marvel painted Jenkins’ firing as amicable, The Hollywood Reporter stated that Marvel was worried about Jenkins’ “lack of overall clarity in her choices,” which was unusual given the fact that Thor 2 was still in its preliminary stages when her firing took place. Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki, Thor’s brother in the franchise had noted that discussions had already taken place between Jenkins and him over characterization. That can only mean that Jenkins was very much involved until a very last minute decision made by Marvel.

Couple Jenkins’ exit in favor for director Alan Taylor, with the fact that Natalie Portman had publicly said many times that she planned to take a large break off from acting, and you allegedly have a very disgruntled actress. Portman, who was pregnant at the time, had said as far back as her Black Swan promotion in 2011 that she wanted time off to take care of her son. Thor: The Dark World marks her first film after giving birth to son Aleph in June.

Thor stars the hammer gripping Chris Hemsworth who spent most of the first film battling his brother, Loki, as he was cast out and sent to live with humans. In the second installment Hemsworth takes on the role of Thor again alongside Portman to battle an ancient race of Dark Elves after the events of The Avengers transpired.