Zoe Saldaña adds her Marvel opinion, says she felt "artistically stuck" working in franchise

Zoe Saldaña has played Gamora in four different Marvel movies since 2014, and will reprise her role in the upcoming Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3

By Emma Keates  |  December 1, 2022 | 6:38pm
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Zoe Saldaña adds her Marvel opinion, says she felt
Zoe Saldaña Photo: Greg Doherty

In the meme heard ‘round the world, little green Gamora asks her adoptive father, Thanos, what it cost him to acquire the soul stone. “Everything,” he responds (which, spoiler alert, really means he flung her off a big old cliff). For Zoe Saldaña, the woman behind the meme, it seems like appearing in this movie may have cost everything as well—or, at the very least, a decade of her career. “I feel that for the last 10 years of my life, I’ve been just stuck. I felt stuck doing these franchises,” she said in a recent interview with Women’s Wear Daily.

Saldaña has appeared in four Marvel movies since 2014 (Guardians Of The Galaxy, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame) and is set to reprise her role as Gamora in the upcoming Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3. She also held another major franchise role as Lieutenant Uhura in all three Star Trek films.

“I’m very grateful for the opportunities that they provided, from collaborating with amazing directors and getting to meet cast members that I consider friends and getting to play a role that fans, especially children, love,” she continued. “But it also meant that I felt artistically stuck in my craft of not being able to expand or grow or challenge myself by playing different sorts of genres and different roles.”

So if it’s not “these franchises,” what is getting the actor’s creative juices flowing these days? That would be Netflix mini-series From Scratch, upcoming Taylor Sheridan property Lioness, and… burgeoning mega-franchise Avatar, which is apparently more of a “rejuvenation” than a real franchise in the actor’s view (at least as of now, prior to its alleged 3-5 sequels).

“Avatar, it’s just my baby,” she said in reference to the upcoming sequel Avatar: The Way Of Water, where she will be stepping back into Neytiri’s blue skin after 13 years.

“It’s everybody’s baby,” she continued. “And to see this baby now being a teenager, like a young adult and getting to share it with the world is just… I felt like this day would never come and it’s finally here.”

Avatar: The Way Of Water premieres December 16 in theaters.

 
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