Eternals' Kumail Nanjiani Nearly Appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy 3

Kumail Nanjiani's Cancelled Eternals Role

Marvel

During a recent interview with the My Mom's Basement podcast, Eternals writer Kaz Firpo revealed that prior to delays, they were unable to cast actor Kumail Nanjiani in the role of he was attached to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. 

Firpo confirmed the team had envisioned Nanjiani as Kingo from the beginning, however, they were told to look elsewhere as he already had a role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and "James Gunn [had] already written him into it:"

"We basically pitched the producers right from the beginning: 'this has got to be Kumail.' And they were like 'it can't be because he's got a role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. James Gunn has already written him into it, so he can't do Eternals."

Fortunately for Eternals, the sci-fi sequel suffered a major delay prior to the pandemic due to James Gunn's firing, which was the supposed reason Nanjiani's schedule freed up and opened the doors to his casting as Kingo:

"And then, as you may know, Guardians had some little kerfuffle, and the movie got delayed like a year and a half and then the pandemic happened. I don't know what that role was going to be, but I really think that it couldn't have gone better for him. His schedule freed up and then Marvel was like 'yeah, you know, I think we could probably go out to him,' and the rest is history. I mean he just got leading man ripped, and he's also just hysterical."

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 director James Gunn addressed Firpo's comments, confirming he had only "written a cameo for [his] friend" and naturally he would rather see him take on a primary role in Eternals. Although, Gunn denied the changes had anything to do with the schedule shifts:

"From my POV I had written a cameo for my friend [Kumail Nanjiani] in [Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3]. When Kevin Feige called me & said they had a primary role for Kumail in [Eternals] I said of course I’d rather see him do that than my bit. I don’t remember it having anything to do with the schedule change."

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