Thor: Ragnarok director shares eye-catching photo of Anthony Hopkins

While we’ve had no shortage of advance material from the upcoming ‘Thor: Ragnarok,’ there has been one rather notable absentee in the photos and trailers we’ve seen thus far: Sir Anthony Hopkins, who stars in the Marvel series as the King of Asgard, Odin.

However, Hopkins – who previously starred alongside Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Idris Elba in 2011’s original ‘Thor’ and 2013 sequel ‘Thor: the Dark World’ – will indeed be back for the third instalment. And at last, courtesy of director Taika Waititi’s Instagram, we have photographic evidence of this.

Be warned, Waititi uses strong language in the caption below.

This photo would seem to be further evidence that everyone involved in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ is having a whale of a time.

This is no small matter, considering that previous instalment ‘Thor: The Dark World’ was a bit of a low point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe; the troubled production saw original director Patty Jenkins (who, of course, since made ‘Wonder Woman’) fired in favour of Alan Taylor, who in turn was reported to have clashed with the studio over the creative direction of the sequel.

Indeed, it is thought that these behind the scenes difficulties on ‘Thor: the Dark World’ may be part of the reason why Natalie Portman – who played Hemsworth’s love interest Jane Foster in the first two films – is not appearing in ‘Ragnarok,’ nor is she expected to return in any future MCU movies.

By contrast, all indications are that ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ has been a very happy affair, not least for director Taikia Waititi. This is by far the largest-scale production the ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ and ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ filmmaker has taken command of to date, and the trailers suggest he’s absolutely in his element with this grandiose, over-the-top spectacle.

We might also remind readers that the mid-credits scene on ‘Doctor Strange’ saw Benedict Cumberbatch’s sorcerer asked by Hemsworth’s God of Thunder to help locate the absent Odin – so it may be that we’ll also see Cumberbatch share the screen with Hopkins and Hemsworth here.

We’ll find out when ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ opens in UK cinemas on 27 October (which can’t come soon enough, frankly).

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