Stuart Townsend Departs "Thor"

Already well known for being replaced on Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings,” Stuart Townsend has departed Marvel Comics' movie adaptation of "Thor" because of creative differences, reports the Associated Press.

According to the AP: The Irish actor left production days before its planned start of filming in Los Angeles. Townsend had been cast as Fandral, an ally of Norse god Thor, according to the two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.

The ally of the Norse god (being played by Chris Hemsworth) now will be portrayed by Joshua Dallas, who also will be seen in the upcoming “The Descent 2” and George Lucas' Tuskegee Airmen film, “Red Tails,” alongside Terrence Howard who dropped out of "Iron Man 2."

The studio has just moved up the release date of "Thor" by two weeks to open the summer movie season of 2011, but they will have to continue without Townsend.

While this can be looked at as negative news for “Thor," everyone should remember that a decade ago Townsend left production on Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, in which he was to play Aragorn. Viggo Mortensen, who was fantastic in the part, replaced him. Things worked out pretty well for Jackson and those films, so hopefully “Thor” won’t suffer from this loss.

What exactly are “creative differences” anyway?

The "creative differences" in 2001 belonged more to Jackson, who recognized a bit too late that Townsend didn't quite have the tough-worn look necessary for the battle-tested Aragorn. It's pretty ridiculous to think that the actor would willingly quit another potential blockbuster.

Clearly, director Kenneth Branagh or someone else felt that Townsend just wasn’t right for the part. I mean honestly, what part of the adventurer that Stan Lee based off the persona of Errol Flynn and often described as "romantic" and "brave" could you possibly have had creative differences with anyway? It seems pretty straightforward to me.

Either way, Townsend is off, and newcomer Dallas has a chance to play an important role in a big-budget film.

“Thor” will be released May 6, 2011.