Despite Eternals‘ lukewarm reception and performance, it seemed a given that it would still get a sequel. After all, this had to be set up for something major, right? But Kevin Feige did not mention a follow-up at San Diego Comic-Con. (Nor did he mention sequels to the other recent MCU films like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: No Way Home, or Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.)
Also considering that Eternals wasn’t well-received, there was some speculation that Marvel might drop director Chloé Zhao and take the franchise in another direction. However, it appears that not only is there going to be an Eternals 2, but Zhao will be back behind the camera. At least according to one member of the cast.
Though he seemed a bit misinformed while appearing on The Today Show, Patton Oswalt, who popped up in the mid-credits scene as Pip the Troll, disclosed:
“They have announced there’s going to be an Eternals sequel, Chloe Zhao is going to direct it. So hopefully there will be more adventures of Starfox and Pip.”
The thing is, a sequel has NOT been announced publically. So this might have been a slip-up. But it may be soon. It was suspected that Feige’s MCU presentation at SDCC was just a brief highlight reel since it was just one hour long.
Disney has its own all-Disney expo coming up in September, D23, on Friday-Saturday, September 9-10. Marvel will be given a lot more real estate at that so expect more and perhaps even bigger news to emerge then.
Expected to return in Eternals 2 are Gemma Chan as Sersi, Angelina Jolie as Thena, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Harry Styles as Eros/Starfox, and of course, Oswalt as the voice of Pip the Troll. It’s also possible that Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman will appear, although his character may already be headed off into another corner of the MCU. (It’s also been speculated that some of the characters that died or were depowered in the first may return, due to the revelation of their true nature, but considering that one of the complaints about Eternals was that it was bloated with too many characters, it may be best to keep things lean.)
While I wasn’t blown away by Eternals, I found it entertaining enough and there were some good character nuggets in there. It’s just with TEN main characters, it’s hard to devote enough time to any of them for audiences to form a bond. Also, like most first films in a series, it was all set up. Now that the premise has been established, a sequel will likely allow things to really get rolling.
What do you think? Are you excited about the prospect of an Eternals sequel?
