Thor: Love and Thunder is set to feature some high-profile new stars making their mark on the MCU, including Russell Crowe’s Zeus and Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher. Fans also look forward to finding out which rumors are true regarding other new stars in the upcoming Thor sequel, such as the ones surrounding Lena Headey from Game of Thrones.
On the big screen, Headey has an impressive number of credits on her resume, such as 2007's 300 from former Justice League director Zack Snyder. But she's best known to the public over the last decade for her role as Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones, where she was part of arguably the most popular show in modern memory alongside fellow Marvel actors Peter Dinklage and Emilia Clarke.
With the rumors surrounding Headey's appearance in Thor 4 alongside Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman, anticipation is high to see what she can bring to the table under the Marvel umbrella. However, the most recent news has indicated that not only will she not be in the movie at all, but that she could be in some serious legal trouble as well over her role.
Thor 4 Actress Thrown Into Lawsuit
Variety revealed that actress Lena Headey is being sued by Troika, her former UK agency, over unpaid commission fees tying back to multiple projects. One of those projects is Marvel Studios' Thor: Love and Thunder.
Heady reportedly had an undisclosed role in the next MCU outing, but it doesn't appear in the final cut of the movie.
The actress reportedly owes the agency over $500,000 USD for her earnings from Thor: Love and Thunder, even though her role isn't actually used in the film.
Will This Affect Lena Headey's MCU Future?
Disney has dealt with an unusual number of high-profile lawsuits over the past couple of years, most notably Scarlett Johansson's battle over Black Widow's release and Disney's battle to retain the rights to Marvel's characters. Now, this one against Lena Headey comes as another disappointing bit of news, especially since she doesn't even appear in the final cut of Thor: Love and Thunder.
$1.5 million is certainly a hefty sum of money for this legal battle and stems from the fact that the Thor sequel is not the only project included as reasoning for bringing this situation into the spotlight. Of course, considering it's one of the biggest new projects from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it only makes sense that it's the one being highlighted, even with Headey not being involved in the end.
In addition to the $500,000 being sought after Thor: Love and Thunder, Troika/YMU claims that they are owed commission fees of $300,000 for Headey's film 9 Bullets and $650,000 for the Showtime dramedy series Rita, despite the latter not being picked up be after its pilot.
The Game of Thrones star's role in this cosmic sequel may never be known, whether it was one of this movie's gods that Gorr goes after or another important Asgardian that may have fought alongside the main heroes.
It's also unclear whether Headey will actually get to bring her role to the big screen at some point, but fans will keep an eye on her status in that regard moving forward. Perhaps her removed scenes will allow her to take on another role in the universe, or Marvel Studios could be saving Headey's current MCU character for a future endeavor.
Thor: Love and Thunder will debut in theaters on July 8.
