Taika Waititi Explains Another Major Change

Although it’s  already in theaters in some markets, US audiences will have to wait until November 3 to see Thor: Ragnarok. The drawback to this is that a number of spoilery details are making their way online. Even so, the final installment of the Thor franchise is a must-see for all comic book movie fans.

Even Joss Whedon called the movie a masterpiece, despite some flaws pointed out by critics.

If you’d like to know more, check out the spoilery detail below, as revealed by Ragnarok director Taika Waititi!

Taika Waititi (Hollywood)

The first pictures from the set of Thor: Ragnarok revealed that Odin would return and that his sons Thor and Loki would find him in New York. This prompted fans to speculate about his well-being, since the almighty god was apparently living the life of a homeless person.

However, Odin’s location was changed to a field in Norway during the Thor: Ragnarok reshoots. Why the change? Waititi explained that having the scene take place in New York would have undermined its emotional subtext. He added that it simply wouldn't have made sense for a supreme being to seek refuge in such a crowded city (a city that’s home to another superpowered hero, Doctor Strange):

We wanted the scene to have more of an emotional resonance around Odin and the sons. We wanted it to be a very special moment between them, where Odin (Anthony Hopkins) acknowledges Loki (Tom Hiddleston) as his son, and the three of them [are] together, there in that moment. It's the first time we've really seen them all together in the same room alone, connecting, and you just can't f***ing do that in New York, you know? You can't even do that in real life in New York, have an emotional connection in an alleyway, so that was a very distracting environment in the end (via CBM).

Of course, other directors might disagree, but let’s move on"¦

In the end, we thought it was actually better to give more weight to it, and give it the sort of time that it deserved, and give it the sort of quietness that it really deserved, because everything up until then had been such a fast-paced journey. Thor was on Muspelheim, he gets up to Asgard, then suddenly they're in New York, and [with] Doctor Strange, and then they're in an alleyway. We just needed to chill out for a second, and have that moment, because the rest of the film basically just runs at a clip. The audience gets to relax and have some emotional connection to some of the characters. It was very important that we took it away from New York.

So it was necessary to change the setting, not only to fit the emotions of the scene, but to give the audience some time to breathe.

[Odin] was originally in New York, and people couldn't understand why – rightly so. It just didn't feel very authentic that Odin was wandering around New York, he's one of the most powerful beings in the universe, and he's wandering around New York, kind of lost. What we wanted to do, I guess, was to honor that he was a powerful king, and he had taken himself to Norway, to the cliffs, and was waiting this whole time, whereas before it seemed too tragic that he was there, and dying in New York. I thought, what a pitiful end, you know?

Thor (Marvel)

In the MCU, Odin is a Norse God, so it would make more sense for him to retreat to Norway rather than New York. Also, the New York setting appeared to have other implications that gave rise to a great deal of speculation.

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