Thor star Chris Hemsworth may be sad to see Kenneth Branagh won’t be returning to direct Thor 2, but Marvel and Disney aren’t offering much time to cry about it as Variety reports Irish helmer, Brian Kirk, is in talks to take over the sequel, which is already set for a July 26, 2013 release from a script by Don Payne (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, My Super Ex-Girlfriend).
For the last four years Kirk has been strictly a television director, recently helming three episodes of HBO’s “Game of Thrones”, one episode of “Boardwalk Empire” and other shows including “Luther” and “Dexter”. His only feature film to date is a little-seen 2006 feature called Middletown that starred Matthew Macfadyen and Daniel Mays. Thor 2 would obviously be a massive step up in terms of recognition, but he has clearly shown talent for handling name actors and large crews.
Variety’s Marc Graser and Justin Kroll report Kirk beat out the likes of Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods), James McTeigue (V for Vendetta), Noam Murro (300: Battle of Artemisia) and Breck Eisner (The Crazies) for the gig. He is currently at work on “Great Expectations,” BBC’s three-part adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novel, which stars Ray Winstone, Gillian Anderson, Douglas Booth, Izzy Meikle-Small and Vanessa Kirby.
So far there is no word on where the Thor mythology will be taken and we probably won’t know until after The Avengers hits theaters next year in which the heroes from Marvel franchises Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger team up to battle evil.
Thor 2 is one of two Marvel heroes already scheduled to hit theaters in 2013 with Iron Man 3 hitting theaters two months earlier on May 3. Now all that’s left is to decide the fate of Captain America 2.
