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Amanda Seyfried Turned Down Guardians of the Galaxy Because She Thought it Would Flop


Credit: 20th Century Fox

If you've been following the Marvel Cinematic Universe since its inception in 2008, chances are you're well-aware of some of the franchise's juiciest backstage details, including all of the what-if scenarios that could've taken place in the billion-dollar juggernaut but didn't. Speaking of, most of you probably know by now that Amanda Seyfried was the original choice to play Gamora in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy but turned down the role and it ultimately went to Zoe Saldana.

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Credit: Marvel Studios

Amanda has confirmed the news several times in the past but she rarely talks about the reason why she chose to reject Marvel Studios' offer and that left a lot of MCU fans quite intrigued. Now, six years after GOTG's release, the Mean Girls and In Time star is opening up about her MCU appearance that never came to fruition. In an interview with the Awards Chatterpodcast, Amanda shared that she declined the offer because she feared the project would flop. She said, "I didn't want to be part of the first Marvel movie that bombed. I said, ‘Who wants to see a movie about a talking tree and a raccoon?' Which is clearly – I was very wrong."

She went on to explain that the risk of possibly tarnishing her impressive acting resume by doing a film that basically included Marvel Comics' D-list characters wasn't exactly worth it to her. Seyfried continued, "The script was great, it was all based on not wanting to be ‘that guy'. Because if you're the star of a giant movie like that, and it bombs, Hollywood does not forgive you. I've seen that happen to people and it was a giant, giant fear. I thought, is it worth it?"

Obviously, Amanda was wrong about the film and GOTG would become a sure-fire success for Marvel Studios. Of course, a lot of that can be credited to director James Gunn who took a huge gamble in taking on a film that was set to introduce characters casual fans aren't even familiar with during a time when the Avengers were dominating the game. Fast forward to today and we'll soon get ourselves a third Guardians film.

Speaking of, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is slated for release in 2022.

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