'Thor: Love And Thunder' Aims To Begin Filming In Early 2021

Thanks to the coronavirus, we're currently in the middle of the longest period between Marvel movies since Iron Man launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe back in 2008. While America is still flailing blindly through the pandemic, other countries around the world are handling things much better – which means major blockbuster productions have a better chance to operate safely on those shores.

Thor: Love and Thunder, the next Thor sequel from writer/director Taika Waititi, is evidently eyeing a shoot in Australia in early 2021, according to star Natalie Portman. And as for Waititi himself, the New Zealand-born director gave a brief update about the writing process and one of the tones he's hoping to achieve in the new movie. 

Over the weekend, news about the Thor: Love and Thunder filming start dates emerged from the most unlikely source: tennis superstar Serena Williams' Instagram account. Natalie Portman, who plays Jane Foster/The Mighty Thor in the upcoming film, revealed that the plan is currently for the new movie to get underway just a few months from now. "We're shooting in Australia in the beginning of next year," she said." Waititi's previous MCU entry, 2017's Thor: Ragnarok, shot at Village Roadshow Studios on Queensland, Australia's Gold Coast.

And speaking of Waititi, in a recent interview with BBC News (via Collider), he gave a quick update about how the writing is going. "I think it's going really good. We've been writing the script off and on for over a year and...actually, this week, doing another pass on it." He described the script as "so insane" and "also very romantic," elaborating that, "I'm into romances now. I would like to make something that I've never done or never cared for. I would like to attack something like that."

Waititi has previously spoken about how the pandemic has given them more time to craft the screenplay, which Chris Hemsworth has also referred to as "insane." We know the story involves Portman's Jane Foster, who has been largely absent from the MCU in recent years, taking on the mantle of Thor, and that Christian Bale is set to play the movie's mysterious villain. And if Vin Diesel is to be believed, the film will also include the Guardians of the Galaxy – which makes sense, considering how Thor seemed to join that gang of rogues at the end of Avengers: Endgame.

Thor: Love and Thunder is supposed to hit theaters on March 25, 2022.