Amanda Seyfried Hints She Turned Down Gamora Role in Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy’s Gamora may be in an unusual state in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after the events of Avengers: Endgame, but it seems that the character, played by Zoe Saldana, could have been a lot different, since actress Amanda Seyfried has (strongly) implied that she was initially offered the role, only to turn it down.

Seyfried (known from Les Misérables, Mamma Mia! and a series-long run on HBO’s Big Love,) made the rather intriguing revelation in a video interview with MTV promoting her recently-released co-starring dog dramedy film, The Art of Racing in the Rain, revealing that she rejected an offer to field a role that, while never-named, was obviously Gamora. When posed with the question if she would take a superhero movie, Seyfried explains somewhat cryptically:

“I turned down [a superhero movie] once and they haven’t called back since, and it was a big one.” She continues with the revelatory addendum, “I don’t regret it because I didn’t want to be green for six months out of every year.”

Further Reading: Avengers: Endgame and the Gamora Problem

The role of Gamora – which debuted in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy – would have cemented a major place for her in the MCU – a global zeitgeist-dominating franchise that, 23 films in, is currently sitting at $22.5 billion worldwide. While, in retrospect, such a move might be seen as a devastating career mistake, Seyfried doesn’t exactly regret her choice. As she further explains of her reasoning:

“[There’s] beautiful, beautiful stories they tell through superheroes, and my daughter’s now really obsessed with superheroes now, and part of me wishes I’d done it, but the other part of me is like ‘I had a life to live’ and I don’t think I would’ve been happy.”

Ultimately, it seems that Seyfried’s choice to walk away from Marvel’s Gamora may have been for the best, since fielding a major role in a Marvel movie bears significantly more responsibility than a typical film, normally involving multi-picture deals and uniquely extensive promotional commitments; things that would not mesh well with an actor who – to no fault of her own – clearly doesn’t have the necessary passion for the genre. As Seyfried continues to laud of her choice:    

“It’s so much more fulfilling to be in a scene with another human, doing human things, talking about real life and that’s what we did [in The Art of Racing in the Rain].”

As for the aforementioned unusual state of Gamora in the MCU, we now have a different version of Gamora, since the version we knew – the deadly Guardians of the Galaxy team member who turned against her adopted father, Thanos – was killed in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War by Thanos in an act requiring the sacrifice of a loved one to acquire the Soul Stone. However, the “Time Heist” of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame saw the integration of a version of Gamora from earlier in the timeline; one who had yet to experience her adventures with the team and – to notable awkwardness – her romance with Star-Lord.

Consequently, Zoe Saldana (not Amanda Seyfried,) will return to the MCU to play a technically different character in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which doesn’t have a specific release date yet, but is scheduled to shoot in 2020, set for a 2021 release.

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Joseph Baxter is a contributor for Den of Geek and Syfy Wire. You can find his work here. Follow him on Twitter @josbaxter.