Taika Waititi directed two Thor films, Ragnarok and Love and Thunder, but was hesitant to do so prior to landing the gig.

He had “no interest” in Thor

Chris Hemworth as Thor next to Love and Thunder poster and Taika Waititi.

During an appearance on the Smartless podcast, Waititi said he took the MCU gig to feed his kids. “You know what? I had no interest in doing one of those films,” he revealed of the Thor series. “It wasn't on my plan for my career as an auteur. But I was poor and I’d just had a second child, and I thought, ‘You know what, this would be a great opportunity to feed these children.'”

On top of that, Waititi had no emotional attachment to the series. “And Thor, let’s face it — it was probably the least popular franchise. I never read Thor comics as a kid. That was the comic I’d pick up and be like ‘Ugh.’ And then I did some research on it, and I read one Thor comic or 18 pages, or however long they are,” he added.

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When Disney reached out to Waititi about the MCU job, he felt like “there was no place left” for the series to go and that he was a last resort. “I thought, ‘Well, they've called me in, this is really the bottom of the barrel.'”

Taika Waititi's addition to the franchise saw big financial results for the MCU. Ragnarok grossed $850 million worldwide, while Love and Thunder made $760 million in 2022. Waititi's Ragnarok holds by-far the highest critics score on Rotten Tomatoes with a 93%.

Now, Waititi is doing his own thing free of the MCU. It doesn't sound like he will return for Thor 5, but he's fresh off the release of his latest film, Next Goal Wins. The film tells the story of the American Samoa football team. Waititi previously directed What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and Jojo Rabbit.