Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth have spoken about exploring their characters’ relationship and breakup in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder.

Thor and Jane Foster first fell for each other back in 2011’s Thor, a romance that continued into 2013’s Thor: The Dark World. There were a few speedbumps along the way, obviously – dating an Asgardian thunder god who abruptly vanishes off the face of the Earth, then returns to the planet a year later to fight off an alien invasion without stopping by to say “hi,” and then only comes back to you a year after that is going to put certain strains on a relationship.

By the time of Thor: Ragnarok, the two had split up, though the breakup was never shown on screen. Now, it sounds like Thor’s and Jane’s breakup is going to be explored a little more in this year’s Thor: Love and Thunder.

A Stormy Relationship

Speaking about Thor: Love and Thunder in the upcoming Spring 2022 issue of Disney’s D23 magazine, Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman opened up about exploring Thor’s and Jane’s relationship and how it all fell apart. They revealed that director Taika Waititi had left the matter of their breakup open to interpretation, which gave them room to imagine what it may have entailed and what the final days of their relationship might have looked like.

Talking about filling in the blanks in Love and Thunder‘s romantic backstory, Thor actor Chris Hemsworth said:

“There actually wasn’t a whole lot of evidence to definitively say, ‘This is how they broke up. This is what happened.’ It was left open for interpretation, which was great because it allowed us to go on this fun journey; ‘What did their relationship look like when they were together? What did it look like when they were breaking up? Why did they break up?’ It’s some of the funniest stuff in the film.”

Adding to this, Natalie Portman revealed:

“It was really fun to get to imagine the parts of their relationship we hadn’t seen… and the hard parts of a scientist dating an otherworldly Super Hero.”

How much of that breakup and Thor’s and Jane’s past relationship will be shown in Thor: Love and Thunder is not yet clear, but the film certainly looks set to explore the fallout. Love and Thunder will see Thor reunited with his ex, who now has his powers, his old hammer and his name.

Here is the synopsis for Thor: Love and Thunder:

The film finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced – a quest for inner peace. But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who – to Thor’s surprise – inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, as the Mighty Thor. Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late.

Directed by Taika Waititi and produced by Kevin Feige and Brad Winderbaum, the film stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, Pom Klementieff, Sean Gunn, and Russell Crowe.

Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters on July 8, 2022. Stay tuned for all the latest news surrounding the upcoming film and be sure to subscribe to Hero Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.

Source: D23 (via The Direct)