Angelina Jolie made her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in 2021's Eternals as one of the more powerful members of the team of immortal androids, Thena. Despite emerging as a highlight of what would prove to be a highly divisive movie, the once-prolific star hasn't appeared on the big screen since.
However, despite some speculation to the contrary, it doesn't sound like film's mixed reception had anything to do with Jolie deciding to take a step back from the limelight.
While speaking to Vogue, Jolie revealed that she did intentionally begin to take on fewer film roles in recent years, and is now “only taking jobs that didn’t require long shoots.”
“[I'm] still understanding who I am at 48,” she tells the mag. “I guess I’m in transition as a person. I feel a bit down these days. I don’t feel like I’ve been myself for a decade, in a way, which I don’t want to get into.”
Jolie declined to go into specific reasons for limiting her acting roles, but it sounds like she's been more focused on finding other creative outlets, such as her fashion brand.
“I think part of this has also been therapeutic for me — to work in a creative space with people you trust and to rediscover yourself,” she explained. “I’m hoping to change many aspects of my life. And this is the forward-facing one.”
This obviously doesn't bode well for Jolie suiting-up as Thena again for an Eternals sequel (though another movie has yet to be officially announced anyway), though she did seem enthusiastic about a potential return at the time of the film's release.
"I loved being part of the family, so I have no desire to separate from the family. But I would be happy to play her again and explore even more deeply the struggles that she has. I think it’s fun thinking of where they’ve been over the years. We’ve got thousands of years worth of material. We can take her anywhere. I think that’s fun and I like the idea that we can pop up somewhere, maybe in other Marvel movies."
Will we see a sequel with or without Thena? There have been conflicting reports, but rumors persist that another film is planned.
MCU sequels are a regular occurrence, of course, but Eternals was the first Marvel Studios movie to drop to "rotten" status on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, and the superhero epic finished up its U.S. run with a disappointing $164.9 million, giving it the lowest domestic haul of any MCU-set movie aside from 2008's The Incredible Hulk ($134M).
Even so, the first film left quite a few dangling plot threads that still haven't been addressed, and it's difficult to imagine Kevin Feige would simply decide to forget about these characters.