It has become a hobby for Marvel fans around the world to dream in waking dreams about changing, altering, or embodying different narrative threads in the popular franchise’s cinematic universe. While many of these speculations tend to lean towards “What If?” scenarios akin to the appropriate Marvel title What If? Disney+ show, Guardians of the Galaxy actress Zoe Saldana took the liberty of revealing an after-the-fact twist about the universe’s deadliest assassin, Gamora.
In a recent video on Variety’s YouTube channel, where her knowledge of lines from her vast collection of famous films was tested, Saldana pondered on her role as Gamora and expressed her desire to delve deeper into her character. Specifically, Saldana felt somewhat perplexed about how to portray Gamora in later Avengers films and wished she had explored more facets of her character in Avengers: Endgame.
“I wish I could come back and reshoot what Gamora went through in the Avengers ‘movies’,” Saldana told Variety magazine. “I don’t think I fully understood what the Russo brothers were doing.”
Saldana’s confusion with the character of Gamora is entirely understandable given that her character not only met her demise after being thrown off a rocky cliff by her father Thanos, but also continued to exist through an alternate timeline version of herself. This retroactive decision led director James Gunn to sort out pieces of Guardians of the Galaxy 3 by seemingly stepping back from her development. After spending some time away from the experience altogether, Saldana wishes she could turn back time and explore the tumultuous family ties between Gamora and Thanos.
She said, “I wish I could come back and do the work so I could put a little more effort in, because it was a great opportunity to play a daughter dealing with issues with her father. Whether she had the chance to reconcile or heal or fix or just break away from that person or not, it was a great opportunity that if I was more in tune with at that time.”
She continued, “I wish I could go back in time and experience a lot more things with her. (Gamora) was truly a fun character to play, but she was also truly a deep character…. I know it’s a Marvel movie and we don’t like to use words like ‘deep’ and ‘Marvel’ in the same sentence, but I love it. And I’m very proud to know that I was a part of amazing movies that cater to a younger audience, and that inspire the younger audience.”
Instead of dwelling on what could have been and speculating about where she ended up in the climax of Guardians 3, Saldana expressed her gratitude for her experience working with Gunn and transforming her characters from deep Marvel lore into recognizable names.
She said, “We were supposed to be these rejected ones who endured childhood traumas, disabilities, mental issues.” “And these characters gave them space to be loved, to know self-love, to love one another, and to find family within their friendship. It really was an important film now when I look at it again.”
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