Thor: Ragnarok Director Explains THAT Actor’s Cameo

WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Thor: Ragnarok

Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi explains how Matt Damon ended up with a cameo in the threequel. It’s already been a general consensus that the film is hilarious in many ways. There are the usual Marvel-signature witticisms and even bits of slapstick comedy, there is one particular scene that worked so well as it pokes fun on the Thor franchise itself, immediately setting the tone that this new movie will not be taking itself too seriously.

Those who have already watched the film know the now iconic reenactment of Loki’s supposed death in Thor: The Dark World in the first act of Ragnarok. Set as a theater play in Asgard, the production is acted out by several Hollywood actors such as Sam Neill as Odin, Luke Hemsworth as Thor and Damon as Loki. But while the first two actors have ties to Waititi and Hemsworth, respectively, the filmmaker shares how The Martian actor made his way into the project.

RELATED: WHAT IS MATT DAMON’S CAMEO IN THOR: RAGNAROK?

As it turns out, Damon and Hemsworth have been good friends for quite some time now and in a new interview with EW Waititi credits Ragnarok‘s lead star for hooking up his friend for a quick cameo. Although Hemsworth and Damon have not explicitly revealed how they met, the two and their families seem have gone on a few vacations together in the last couple of years. Waititi said:

“Well Matt and Chris are very good friends. We were looking for someone to play Loki and it felt like if Loki was going to write a play about his death he’d want the star of the Asgard theater scene to be in the play.”

Loki faking his own death as Thor mourns him in Thor The Dark World

Everyone who has been closely following news about the threequel won’t be too shocked. Rumors of Damon’s appearance in Thor: Ragnarok broke several weeks ago and the Hollywood star attending the film’s premiere in Los Angeles and even crashing the cast’s Jimmy Kimmel Live interview further fueled speculation. Despite no confirmation prior to the movie’s release, it was still something that if die-hard fans were not expecting, was at least at the back of their heads coming into the cinemas. That does not take any fun from the scene, however, especially when Damon’s face was in a close-up shot reenacting Loki’s emotional last conversation with Thor in The Dark World. It does also help in terms of the scene’s hilarity that Sir Anthony Hopkins playing Odin (impersonated by Loki) is casually enjoying the play on the sidelines cozying on his chaise lounge and eating grapes.

If it has been any other actor, the theater play would have worked fine, but adding an A-lister into the mix definitely makes it a lot more fun. The question now is if Damon’s character (alongside his other co-actors) survived the destruction of Asgard and are aboard that ship that evacuated the people of the planet and if so, what are the chances that we’ll see them in future Marvel films.