Julia Louis-Dreyfus has had a long and illustrious career filled with memorable characters, most of which have allowed her to showcase her keen comedic timing and quick, sharp wit, including her iconic roles as Elaine Benes in Seinfeld and Selina Meyer in Veep. More recently, the actress made her debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the cunning Valentina Allegra de Fontaine—which is a role that her kids were the most excited to see her in.
During the press junket for Netflix's upcoming comedy You People, Collider's own Steve Weintraub spoke with Louis-Dreyfus about a wide variety of topics, including the MCU and her upcoming return as Valentina in the highly anticipated Thunderbolts film, which will cap off Phase 5 in 2024. She joked with her You People co-star, David Duchovny, that while her sons are excited about all of her work, it was Marvel that really stirred up their excitement, saying:
"They're interested in this, of course. But the point is that, for years, both of my boys have been saying, "Mom, why don't you do a Marvel movie? Do a Marvel movie. Do a Marvel movie." And I'm like, "Oh, they’re not going to pick me for a Marvel movie." And then they did. And I was like, "Oh yeah. Now my boys are going to be psyched."
While she didn't say much about the film, she did express her excitement by saying, "I'm really excited to shoot Thunderbolts, which we're going to do this year. It's going to be absolutely wild." Pre-production is currently underway ahead of the film's June start date, with filming taking place in Atlanta, Georgia—a location that will allow David Harbour to pull double duty as Red Guardian and Hopper in the final season of Stranger Things.
Since Valentina was first introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it became clear that she was an unscrupulous character who was putting together her own team of ne'er-do-wells, including U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh). The cast list for Thunderbolts has expanded since she recruited John Walker and Yelena (in Black Widow), with Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) seemingly joining the mix—alongside Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan).
While it's possible that Valentina will show up in other MCU projects between now and when Thunderbolts arrives on the silver screen, she most recently appeared in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as Everett Ross' (Martin Freeman) ex-wife. With the renewed interest in vibranium—a resource that both Wakanda and Talokan are rich in—it will be interesting to see if the metal becomes a source of conflict in the upcoming MCU projects—including Thunderbolts.
Thunderbolts is slated to premiere on July 26, 2024. Be sure to check out our interview with Louis-Dreyfus and Duchovny later this week.