Eternals finally hits theaters this weekend, and the highly ambitious Phase 4 adventure will introduce a whole host of new superheroes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are 10 core team members - Ikaris, Sersi, Thena, Gilgamesh, Sprite, Kingo, Phastos, Druig, Ajak and Makkari - but director Chloé Zhao has now revealed that there could have been even more.
“There was 12 characters when I first read it; 12 Eternals. We had to let two go along the way,” the filmmaker told Fandom.com, suggesting that an earlier draft of the script featured a dozen mega-powerful cosmic heroes.
Zhao doesn't name the Eternals that were dropped, unfortunately, but it's easy enough to understand why they didn't make the cut. After all, ten new characters is more than enough to juggle, and it's a testament to the director that she manages to give everyone their moment to shine - even if they don't all get the same amount of screen time.
“Some characters don’t need the most screen time, it’s about what they do with the screen time," she continued. "They have to be memorable. And when we looked at these 10 unique individuals, we thought about how they represent 10 aspects of human nature. They’ve been here for so long, who they become today is a big part of who we are. And so it was actually equally important that they remain memorable. All 10 of them had the same weight; not necessarily screen time, but the weight.”
Ikaris and Sersi do remain the focus throughout, but nobody gets short-changed, and everyone makes an impact in one way or another.
Eternals has been getting mixed reviews, but we highly recommend checking it out for yourselves when it releases this Friday.
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.