Marvel Studios films have never shied away from having large ensemble casts. However, what makes the cast of “Eternals” so interesting is that the 10 members of the superhero team are all new to the MCU. So, it’s a bit of a herculean feat for filmmaker Chloe Zhao to attempt to introduce 10 brand-new characters (plus Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman) all within the 157-minute run-time. And believe it or not, originally she was going to have to do it with more characters.
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Speaking to Fandom, Chloe Zhao shed some light on the difficulty of the task of introducing a huge number of new superheroes, each with their own unique story, within the confines of one origin story. (Keep in mind, the origin story in “Eternals” is already full of deep history before you even get to the individual characters.) And if you thought introducing 10 was difficult, imagine trying to do the same thing with 12.
“There was 12 characters when I first read it; 12 Eternals. We had to let two go along the way,” said Zhao.
Obviously, it’s to the film’s benefit to trim that number as much as possible. But even with 10 main Eternals, there was a balancing act that Zhao had to navigate, making sure audiences get to know each character and their motivations without turning this into a six-hour marathon.
“Some characters don’t need the most screen time, it’s about what they do with the screen time. They have to be memorable,” said the filmmaker. “And when we looked at these 10 unique individuals, we thought about how they represent 10 aspects of human nature. They’ve been here for so long, who they become today is a big part of who we are. And so it was actually equally important that they remain memorable. All 10 of them had the same weight; not necessarily screen time, but the weight.”
Unfortunately, when you look at the general critical consensus, it doesn’t appear that people think Zhao has done the best job juggling all of these characters and their individual stories. Of course, critical reviews mean nothing if fans love the film. And we’ll see if that’s the case when “Eternals” hits theaters on November 5.