‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Director Taika Waititi Explains Controversial Casting of Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Strays from Source Material

‘Thor: Ragnarok’ director Taika Waititi explained that Tessa Thompson’s casting as Valkyrie was intended to diversify the cast. Waititi strayed from the original Marvel comic books by casting a woman of color to play a Caucasian female Viking.

According to the Independent, Waititi defended his choice of Valkyrie for the upcoming installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) ‘Thor’ series. The role of Valkyrie, a character originally depicted as a Caucasian blonde woman in the original comic books, went to actress Tessa Thompson. This provoked some fans to complain about the casting choice.

Waititi said, "Right from the start we wanted to diversify the cast, and it’s hard when you’re working with Vikings… You want to be more inclusive and provide a broader representation. And at that point, you have to look at the source material as a very loose inspiration. And then take it from there and go with your gut."

He added, "Say, 'You know what? None of that stuff matters. Just because the character was blonde and white in the comic book. That doesn’t matter. That’s not what [that character] is about.' People forget that. Die-hard fans will say, 'That’s not really authentic to the comics,' but as soon as they watch the movie, and they’re involved in the story, and actually what’s happening, everybody forgets."

Waititi insisted that casting shouldn’t be the main topic of concern since it’s the movie itself that matters. He said, “I think the story is king, and you want the best person for the job. And Tessa tested against — we cast a very broad net, and Tess was the best person."

According to another article on HitFix, the filmmaker also expressed his desire to cast more women as well as people of color in major roles. He said, “This film has [Marvel’s] first female villain, and that’s exciting for me,” … I want to see more females onscreen and not just dudes. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s a lot of it in the world. We need more representation of all kinds.

Thompson is best known for her role as Bianca in the critically-acclaimed sports drama film ‘Creed’. She also appeared in films such as ‘When a Stanger Calls’, ‘For Colored Girls’, ‘Dear White People’, and ‘Selma’.

Similarly, controversy hounded Idris Elba’s casting as the Norse God Heimdall in the preceding films. The English actor portrayed the originally Caucasian character and was first introduced in the 2011 film ‘Thor’. He reprised his MCU role in subsequent films namely ‘Thor: The Dark World’ and ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’.

‘Thor: Ragnarok’ is an upcoming superhero film scheduled to be released on November 3, 2017. It is directed by Taika Waititi and produced by Kevin Feige.

The film is intended as the sequel to Alan Taylor’s ‘Thor: The Dark World’ released in 2013. Taylor’s film earned mixed reviews but was considered a commercial success after grossing $644.6 million worldwide against a production budget of $170 million.