Back in October of last year, it was revealed that actress Katherine Langford (of 13 Reasons Why fame) would have a role in Avengers: Endgame. If you’ve seen the film, you’ll have noticed that she doesn’t appear anywhere in it. What happened to her role? Just today, the Russo Brothers (directors of the film) revealed on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast that Langford’s role was cut from the film because it was “really confusing” for test audiences.
OBVIOUS SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
As it turns out, Langford was set to play an older version of Tony Stark’s daughter, Morgan Stark. During the pivotal moment of the climactic final battle of the film, Tony grabs the Infinity Gauntlet away from Thanos and snaps his fingers. In his dying moments, he would have seen a vision of his grown-up daughter forgiving him for leaving the family behind. It would have been a touching moment, though a bit unnecessary from a narrative standpoint.
Joe Russo told MTV, “There was an idea that Tony was going to go into the metaphysical way station that Thanos goes in when he snapped his fingers, and there was going to be a future version of his daughter in that way station. We showed it to a test audience and it was really confusing for them.” Envisioning it in my mind, I could see how that would be confusing. Morgan barely has any screentime and her coming back for a quick few seconds wouldn’t make a lot of sense.
Anthony Russo then added, “We didn’t feel an emotional association with the adult version of his daughter. It wasn’t ringing to us. It wasn’t resonating to us on an emotional level is why we moved away from it.” I think that’s the real clincher. Without any build-up for Morgan, there’s not much reason for the audience to see her in the finale. It would make more sense for Pepper Potts to deliver that message alongside an older Morgan if anything.
Joe Russo closed out that segment by stating, “The idea felt resonate, but it just was too many ideas in an overcomplicated movie.” While it may have been a nice gesture, sometimes edits are for the best. Endgame still feels overly long and pretty contrived, but at least it didn’t try to introduce new concepts at the last minute.
Why Katherine Langford’s ‘Avengers: Endgame‘ Scene Was Cut [Hollywood Reporter]
