thor: ragnarok

Tessa Thompson Wants to Play ‘Alana’ in a Live-Action ‘Saga’ Movie

The Thor: Ragnarok actress says she’s “obsessed” with Saga; playing Alana would be “dreamy.”

It all started when a fan who had just seen Thor: Ragnarok tweeted that Tessa Thompson “would be a perfect Alana in a Saga movie adaptation.” This is quite possibly one of the truest things that has ever been said. And it got even better when Thompson herself replied, saying, “OH MY. i’m very *obsessed* with SAGA. That would be so dreamy.”

Thompson followed that tweet almost immediately with another, the cover illustration from Saga #8 — a Fiona Staples drawing of Alana in full battle gear — reading a romance novel and chewing bubblegum.

The only real problem with Thompson playing the part is that there is absolutely zero plans at the moment to make a Saga movie.

In fact, series creator Brian K. Vaughn has stated that he created Saga with the explicit intent to explore ideas and scenes that would be impossible (or very expensive) to do in television or film: bizarre aliens, realistic sex, nudity graphic gore and violence.

Vaughn and Staples launched Saga in 2012. The story is an epic “space opera” focusing on Marko and Alana, a husband and wife from opposite sides of a bloody war, who conceive a child together. The very existence of the child is a threat to the status quo and the couples is hunted across the galaxy by operatives from both sides of the conflict.

Marko is a pacifist, but Alana is a hard-drinking former soldier who has never forgotten her impressive combat skills — that’s a pretty close match to the version of Valkyrie Thompson played in Thor: Ragnarok.

Even though Vaughn made Saga to be “unfilmable,” has never ruled out the idea of a  live-action adaptation, stating that he would explore the idea if “the right offer” was made.

Hey Brian, Tessa Thompson just offered to play Alana. That is absolutely “the right offer.”