Even though there were some positive reviews for “Eternals” (for example, in the FILMSTARTS review, the Marvel blockbuster received a good 3.5 out of 5 stars), critics and audiences were mostly not particularly enthusiastic about the film. It was actually something they had imagined differently, especially since with “Eternals” they had tried to introduce a new superhero team into the MCU after “Avengers”.
Kumail Nanjiani, who played Kingo in ‘Eternals,’ recently appeared on the podcast ‘“ spoke in detail about how all the negative comments about the film affected him personally:
Kumail Nanjiani had to undergo therapy for ‘Eternals’.
“It was very difficult then. And I realized that the situation is unfair to myself and unfair to my wife Emily, and that I can no longer do my job this way. Something has to change. So I started consulting. I still talk about it with my therapist. Emily says I was traumatized by the experience.”
Actually, they had hoped for a completely different reaction to ‘Eternals’: “It was really difficult because Marvel believed the movie would be very, very well received. So they lifted the embargo early, showed it at a few film festivals and sent us on a big world tour to properly promote the film,” Nanjiani said.
According to Nanjiani, the fact that the film was so poorly reviewed has nothing to do with the actual class of “Eternals”. Instead, he believes the coronavirus pandemic has played a role in sharpening opinions: “I think there was quite a strange atmosphere in the air and that’s why this film was so heavily criticized. I don’t think that has much to do with the actual quality of the film.
Is ‘Eternals 2’ coming?
In the podcast, Nanjiani also explains that his fellow actors in “Eternals” felt the same way: “My wife and I were just having dinner with someone else from the movie and we said, “This is hard, isn’t it?” and he said, ‘Yes, this is really hard,’ and I think we’ve all been through something similar.”
It is still unclear whether there will be a sequel to ‘Eternals’. The question is whether Marvel actually wants to bet on this horse again after the first part fell short of expectations. It remains to be seen if “Eternals 2” will happen.