With Brie Larson’s absence from the promotional tour for The Marvels becoming a real possibility, the film’s director addressed the concern of taking on that challenge without her leading MCU star.
Marvel Studios officially kicked off Captain Marvel 2‘s promotional tour with its first trailer debuting in April, showing Brie Larson’s long-awaited return to the MCU in a leading role alongside Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani.
However, due to the ongoing actors’ strike taking hold in Hollywood starting on July 14, Larson hasn’t been allowed to engage in any kind of promotional material for her new MCU sequel since then. And with Larson being one of the franchise’s most successful actors, having her star power and voice promoting the film is no small factor when looking at this MCU sequel’s potential box office earnings.
The Marvels director Nia DaCosta spoke with Abby News about the upcoming promotional tour for her MCU sequel, particularly touching on Brie Larson’s likely absence from the promotional tour.
With Larson almost certain to be missing from the promotional tour due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, DaCosta expressed hope that she’s not alone in promoting the sequel, teasing that people will ask “Where’s Brie Larson?:”
“I’m hoping I’m not promoting the movie by myself. No one’s there to see me, either. They’re going to be like, ‘Where’s Brie Larson?'”
DaCosta also touched on the status of the strikes as a whole, explaining that they “won’t be solved in one round of negotiations” but hoping that they end soon so that she and the rest of Hollywood can head back to work:
“I think we’re now in a new world. Everything that’s happening is an existential search that our industry is doing. It won’t be solved in one round of negotiations. But I’m hoping that the studios can end the strike soon and get us all back to work — to work for them.”
This comes amidst concerns that Captain Marvel 2 will face a delay in its release due to these strikes, with neither the actors nor writers being able to promote or talk about the film publicly.
Considering that progress on the actors’ strike has been slow-moving, just like it’s been for the writers’ strike, the odds of Brie Larson getting to join the Captain Marvel 2 promotional tour are slim to none right now.
And even amidst the worries that Marvel would be forced to delay the sequel in order to have Larson and her co-stars be able to promote their work, it appears that the studio will keep the sequel’s scheduled release date.
Larson already did her fair share of promotion for the film before the strikes began, urging fans to plan their trips to theaters to avoid the sequel’s spoilers.
And considering the positivity she’s helped to spread for her co-stars and the franchise as a whole, DaCosta’s concerns about promoting the film on her own are certainly valid as Marvel looks to climb back to the top of the box office charts.
The Marvels is still set to release in theaters on November 10.
