Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly are in preparation for their third team-up effort together as Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne in next year's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania for the MCU. With filming for the threequel having wrapped at the end of 2021, more than a year still remains until Rudd and Lilly's work on the script and plot comes to life on the big screen.
For Lilly specifically, Ant-Man 3 will put her character into a more prominent role than ever before as she makes her fourth appearance in the MCU and her first after the Infinity Saga. She's already confirmed to be involved in some major action sequences after fully suiting up as the Wasp four years ago, and with both of her parents back in the flow, she has her biggest support system to date in a solo film.
Although Lilly has expressed how challenging it was to film this new movie with the realities of today's world, she remains excited to add to Hope's story as she progresses in her hero's journey.
Recently, the actress even revealed how she helped add her own expertise and ideas to the threequel's script during development.
Wasp Star on Ant-Man 3 Script's
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania star Evangeline Lilly spoke with Forbidden Planet TV about her ambitions for her next MCU solo movie.
Lilly shared how much her "own personal growth" played into developing her character, specifically with the MeToo and Time's Up movements that still remain prevalent today. Ant-Man 3 was Lilly's first time voicing more of her options on what she wanted to see from both the story and from Hope Van Dyne in the MCU threequel:
“What’s great is what I can talk about is sort of the theme that we started on, which is my own personal growth. On that film, that was, I think, the first time where I really… probably because of some of the healing that’s happened within me, which is… partly fueled by the MeToo movement and the Time’s Up movement. That really helped me to feel empowered, to have a voice, and not to be afraid to use it and not to feel like I’m being obnoxious or difficult. And what was really incredible was to, for the first time ever, really, really say I have an opinion."
Admitting that he has "a lot of opinions," she was happy to have the opportunity to share her thoughts on the process "with confidence" this time around instead of holding back, which she had done in the past. Lilly said that it was "empowering" to make suggestions for changes to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's "final script" during production:
"I have a lot of opinions and I’d love to share them and I’d love to give you my thoughts on all of this. And to do it with confidence and to do it with clarity, instead of, before I even speak, already… brushing my own ideas under the carpet, which is an old habit of mine. Like, ‘Yeah, this probably isn’t a very good idea, but…’ or, ‘You don’t have to use this, I’m just going to tell you what it is…’ Like. all that stuff that I think is is a very common habit of a lot of people and and it was definitely a habit of mine, but instead saying just really openly, ‘Here are my thoughts.’ And that’s a really vulnerable thing to do without the precursor. It actually feels really unnerving because you’re making yourself vulnerable to somebody not liking it, without saying, ‘You might not like this and that’s okay.’ And that was really empowering for me to be heard and to have my ideas actually really, really well-received and valued and then to see them wind up in the final script."
Although she doesn't know what will actually "end up in the final movie" with so much post-production work still needed, she's excited to find out how everything comes together with the characters and visuals. Lilly shared that this movie allowed her to feel "the most heard, the most respected, and the most collaborative" that she had felt in her entire career to date.
"You never know what’s going to end up in the final movie, because half of this film is made in post. You know, it’s CGI and they’re constantly reworking the story and the characters and the ideas and the visuals. So… you really do, as an actor, come to the premiere as an audience member. You really don’t know what to expect. But the process itself. I probably felt, in both South of Heaven and Quantumania… probably the most heard, the most respected, and the most collaborative that I’ve ever felt in my career as an actress. And so… it was a really empowering year.”
Lilly's Voice Heard on Ant-Man 3 Story
Marvel Studios has built an impressive reputation for allowing actors to give their input on projects, most recently seen in Andrew Garfield's return during Spider-Man: No Way Home. With Lilly now having played Hope Van Dyne in four live-action movies, along with the animated What If...? series, the actress feels more confident than ever with making her own influence felt.
Before filming finished last year, Lilly expressed that this movie could easily be the best one she's ever been a part of because of what she saw in the script. Head writer Jeff Loveness often shared his own humorous thoughts on the threequel's process, and in terms of what he brought to the script, he seemed more than willing to work with Lilly to get the Wasp right.
There is still plenty of mystery regarding what fans will actually see from the Wasp, especially as she encounters Kathryn Newton's Stature and Jonathan Majors' Kang the Conqueror for the first time. Even so, it's clear that fans will see Lilly's impact in the film as Hope comes back into the world in the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will premiere in theaters on July 28, 2023.
