Game of Thrones actor Richard Madden says filming Marvel's upcoming Eternals was a physically draining experience for him. Madden will star as Ikaris, one of the Eternals' leaders. He will be joined by Gemma Chan's Sersi - the pair have been caught up in a centuries-long, on-and-off love affair that will be complicated by her relationship with Kit Harington's Dane Whitman. Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Barry Keoghan, Kumail Nanjiani, Don Lee, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, and Lauren Ridloff will play the other Eternals, a group of immortal alien beings who have overseen events on earth for thousands of years.

Eternals will pick up after the events of Avengers: Endgame during the beginning of the Emergence. The group will have seven days to stop whatever it is and it looks like it will involve the villainous Deviants. The creatures hail from the same people who created the Eternals, the all-knowing Celestials, and they will begin to terrorize the earth once again. Eternals is helmed by Academy Award winning director Chloé Zhao, who just scored the Best Directing Oscar for her 2021 movie Nomadland. It will be the third MCU film to hit theaters this year after Black Widow and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and it may have been the most grueling to shoot.

Related: Every Deviant In The Eternals Trailer Explained

Speaking to Wonderland Magazine, Madden detailed how intense Eternals' shoot was. The actor said that he spent a lot of time hooked up to wires because his character is flying so much in the movie. He cited this specifically as one of  the very physically draining aspects of the film.

There was a lot of time on wires because my character flies, which was just physically f**king draining.

Richard Madden as Ikaris looking in the distance in Marvel's Eternals movie.

It's no surprise that the stunt work took its toll on Madden. Letitia Wright, star of Black Panther 2, just suffered an on set injury performing a stunt that sounds similar to what the actor describes. It's no small feat producing a superhero movie and with all the action involved, many of the actors end up beaten and bruised. Luckily, Madden might be just a little bit used to it.

The actor has starred in his fair share of action-heavy productions, including the aforementioned Game of Thrones and UK series Bodyguard, which called for the actor to get in everything from physical fights to gun fights. Still, the upcoming Marvel movie will be unlike anything Madden has done before - the actor looks to be playing a hero akin to Superman, with everything from lasers shooting from his eyes to the high-flying fighting with Deviants Ikaris does in the trailer for Eternals.

More: The MCU Finally Has Its Version Of Superman

Source: Wonderland Magazine

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