In addition to introducing a plethora of new characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the recent Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings brought back a few familiar faces on the big screen, including Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery. After making his debut in Iron Man 3 and starring in Marvel One-Shots’ All Hail the King, the failed actor is finally back, much to many fans’ delight (and other fans’ displeasure). Much as in his previous appearances, Trevor served as comic relief, this time beside the hero portrayed by Simu Liu. Now, Shang-Chi screenwriter Dave Callaham has explained to THR how they pitched to Kingsley and convinced him to reprise the controversial character.
“In our case, Sir Ben’s character, Trevor Slattery, was really the only connective tissue we had available to us to connect to any previous iteration of the Ten Rings or the Mandarin, because Tony Stark is dead. We knew we wanted to use Sir Ben if it was possible, and that was a question we asked very early. ‘Would Marvel be open to that? Was that a good experience? Did he enjoy playing Trevor Slattery?’ It’s been some time since he was in Iron Man 3 so I didn’t know what his appetite is for coming back to a role like that.”
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The biggest potential hurdle to Trevor’s return on-screen was Kevin Feige’s approval. But it appears that the president of Marvel Studios loves the actor who posed as the Mandarin.
“We asked and Kevin said, ‘Sounds great. We all love Trevor here. We’d love to see him again. But you guys need to craft the story and then lure him in. And that will be on you guys creatively, to give him something juicy.’ I don’t know if we did outlines or had an actual script at the point we first approached him. That’s the moment I believe some version of Destin having to do a Zoom meeting or something like that happened, and he described what we were thinking, and it turns out Sir Ben very much likes to play Trevor Slattery.”
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is currently playing in theaters.
What do you think about Trevor’s return? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: Shang-Chi: Master of Kung-Fu Omnibus Vol. 1
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