The Eternals is shaping up to be Marvel Studios’ biggest gamble since Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014, with the studio going all-in on the cosmic side of their shared universe to tell a tale about an immortal race of aliens with a narrative set to span thousands of years. Director Chloe Zao has been shooting for over three months, with plenty of set photos hitting the internet in the process, and now a new report has detailed how an unexpected and terrifying development forced the cast and crew to evacuate one of the movie’s Spanish locations.
As confirmed by multiple news outlets, stars including Angelina Jolie and Richard Madden were hurriedly rushed away from the set based on Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands after the discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb nearby. The cast and crew were instantly ordered to evacuate the set as bomb disposal experts were called in to disarm the device, which had been lying undiscovered for over 70 years.
There will no doubt be plenty of tasteless jokes making their way online in the near future about having the words ‘bomb’ and ‘Eternals‘ in the same sentence, along with accusations that the Red Skull is behind the entire thing, but this must have been a horrendous experience for those involved. There are still thousands of unaccounted for World War II bombs dotted all over the world, with estimates that around 8000 are discovered and safely detonated each year.
Hopefully the local authorities complete a thorough and extensive sweep of the surrounding area, given the hundreds of people employed by The Eternals to work on the production and the massive practical sets that have been assembled at great expense. With the scare now out of the way and the proper measures being put in place to ensure the continued safety of the cast and crew, the sci-fi epic is expected to resume shooting shortly in order to meet a November 2020 release date.