Marvel Studios is approaching another major milestone for the Marvel Cinematic Universe with only a few weeks remaining until the release of Chloé Zhao's Eternals. Taking the opportunity to dive into parts of 7,000 years of human history, the November release is already building substantial hype as the MCU's next potential masterpiece.
Part of that expected success is due to Zhao's unique vision - one that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has already regarded as one of the best he's ever seen in his time with the MCU. Helping bring that vision to life is arguably the most high-profile cast for any solo origin story in franchise history, featuring industry icons such as Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek amongst a host of up-and-comers.
Likely leading the way as the headliners are Gemma Chan as Sersi and Richard Madden as Ikaris, both of whom have been featured prominently through teases and trailers over the past few months. Those teases have also shown a romantic relationship between the two, although recent news about the actors' off-screen bond makes that romance a little more interesting.
Chan and Madden Tease MCU Romance
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Eternals stars Richard Madden and Gemma Chan opened up on their experience playing with the romance between Ikaris and Sersi in the MCU movie.
Looking back at how they connected off-screen, Chan and Madden reminisced on how they met each other through having "so many friends in common" and how they spent "lots and lots of time together" although they'd never done a project together before. The funniest part for both of them was that they teamed up on Eternals after never having discussed their work with each other.
Upon finding out they were both cast in Eternals, both actors were excited to join forces thanks to "already (having) this trust and rapport" with each other over the years, according to Madden.
That long friendship also helped with their romantic scenes in the movie, making that experience "just a nice, organic process" as opposed to being thrown into kissing someone after first meeting them, as Madden explained:
"Over the moon. I mean, we've known each other for over 10 years now, so if you're going to go to work and get up and see someone at 4 a.m. every day, it makes it a lot easier if you like them. Because we've known each other so long, we already have this trust and rapport. We know how to push each other's buttons. We know how to make each other laugh. We wanted to bring out the best in each other, so it makes it just a nice, organic process — rather than meeting someone for the first time and being like, 'Hey, you've got to make out now.'"
Sersi & Ikaris - An MCU Power Couple
Hollywood can be quite an interesting mystery to solve, especially in terms of off-screen friendships between actors. In that light, when a friendship like Chan and Madden's happens, particularly so naturally, it clearly makes working on movies like Eternals a little bit easier.
Both actors have built up extensive resumes over the past decade; Madden is most popular for acclaimed hits like Game of Thrones and Rocketman, while Chan already has an MCU appearance under her belt as Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel. Both bring their own round of firepower to this film individually, and with their characters being so close on-screen, the off-screen relationship only helps the work become more manageable.
Now, the wait continues as fans look forward to seeing how the ties between Chan and Madden in real life will translate into their interactions with each other on the MCU stage. With a complicated love triangle possibly on the way between those two and Kit Harington's Dane Whitman, their dynamic will add another layer of intrigue to Marvel Studios' next major adventure.
Eternals will debut in theaters on November 5, 2021.
