Marvel Studios is bringing in a new screenwriter for Thor 3, and it’s a refreshing change of pace for the male-dominated genre. Per THR, Stephany Folsom has been tapped to pen a new draft of the script for Thor: Ragnarok, making this the third female writer brought onto a Marvel Studios project. Nicole Perlman originated the screenplay for Guardians of the Galaxy before James Gunn came on, and she’s now working on the studio’s Captain Marvel with Inside Out co-writer Meg LeFauve.

Folsom’s work includes the Black List script 1969: A Space Odyssey or How Kubrick Learned to Stop Worrying and Land on the Moon, a fictionalized drama about NASA enlisting Stanley Kubrick to fake the moon landing. Not only is she the third female writer in Marvel’s bullpen, she also marks the third writer on Thor 3 in total. Thor: The Dark World screenwriters Christopher Yost and Craig Kyle previously worked to hone the script for the third standalone Norse pic, but it appears that Marvel is looking to punch the script up even further—or maybe even take it in an entirely new direction.


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Image via Marvel

The project recently landed a director in What We Do in the Shadows filmmaker Taika Waititi, and given Waititi’s background as a writer many assumed he’d have a hand in the Marvel script himself. Instead, it appears he’ll be working with Folsom to get the project where it needs to be in order to begin production next June.

We still don’t know too much about Ragnarok just yet, but Mark Ruffalo will be co-starring alongside Chris Hemsworth in what appears to be a pattern for Marvel’s Phase Three films—they’re teaming up the various superheroes even in their standalone features. Ruffalo described Ragnarok as a buddy movie, which is certainly promising, but Tom Hiddleston is back as well so it won't all be fun and games. Moreover, Ragnarok is expected to heavily set up the events of Avengers: Infinity War, meaning things may not end very happily for Thor and Hulk.

Thor: Ragnarok is slated for release on November 3, 2017. For a refresher of all of Marvel’s confirmed releases, see below. And for a catalog of all upcoming superhero movie release dates, click here.

  • Captain America: Civil War – May 6, 2016
  • Doctor Strange - November 6, 2016
  • Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – May 5, 2017
  • Untitled Spider-Man Reboot – July 28, 2017
  • Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017
  • Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 – May 4, 2018
  • Black Panther – July 6, 2018
  • Captain Marvel – November 2, 2018
  • Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2 – May 3, 2019
  • Inhumans – July 12, 2019
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Image via Marvel