Tatiana Maslany’s Condition for Returning as She-Hulk

Tatiana Maslany hasn’t suited up as Jennifer Walters since She-Hulk: Attorney at Law wrapped in 2022 — but she’s not closing the door on a return. She just has conditions.

Speaking to Screen Rant while promoting her new Apple TV+ series Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, the Emmy-winning Orphan Black star laid out exactly what it would take to bring She-Hulk back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And it’s less about contracts or cameos and more about creative purpose.

“That to me feels very open-ended,” Maslany said of her future as She-Hulk. “I do feel like Jessica Gao would be the person to ask about that because she just has such a grasp on the tone of that show and the story of that character. But I do think whatever it is would have to be talking about what’s happening now. So it would have to be something about the world now because that’s She-Hulk’s power, is seeing what’s happening and sort of calling it out.”

It’s a clear, principled answer — and honestly, it makes a lot of sense for the character. Jennifer Walters wasn’t just a superhero. She was a narrator, a fourth-wall-breaker, a woman using her platform to point at absurdity and name it. A version of that story set against today’s world? There’s no shortage of material.

Why Jessica Gao Is the Key

Maslany has been consistent about this: she doesn’t see herself as the person driving a She-Hulk comeback. That’s Gao’s territory. When she appeared on The Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast, Maslany expanded on why the character’s singular format makes ensemble appearances tricky.

“I think it would take somebody like Jessica Gao to weave her into that world because she knows that character so deeply and loves her and gets her tone,” she said. “But there is something about She-Hulk being the star of her own show that makes sense. Because of the direct address, she is our narrator. So, I think it would be a real cool challenge to see her in some other context, but I do think the sort of joy of She-Hulk is in the singularness of it.”

That’s a real creative tension. She-Hulk works because Jen talks to us. Drop her into an Avengers ensemble and you lose the whole mechanism that made the show click. It’s not impossible — but it’s not simple either.

When pressed on whether a second season or a move to the big screen felt more likely, Maslany didn’t exactly drum up confidence in either option. “I don’t know. I think people would be so mad at me being on their screens again,” she laughed.

The Messy Months Behind the Jokes

That quip lands differently when you know the backstory. The past year has been a chaotic one for Maslany’s relationship with Marvel — or at least the public perception of it.

In 2024, she told interviewers that a second season of She-Hulk was unlikely, citing budget issues: “I think we blew our budget, and Disney was like, ‘No, thanks.’” Then came her appearance on the Comedy Bang! Bang! podcast, where she went full satirical: “Disney has approached me to play She-Hulk again. Guys, I said no… I was really mad at them for kicking me out of Deadpool & Wolverine. I was just mad… They really wanted me to be in Doomsday, Avengers-style, or whatever. I turned them down. I’m confirming it here.”

Given that this was a comedy podcast, most people took it as a bit — but the internet being the internet, it spread anyway. When Entertainment Tonight asked her to clarify in February, she was delightfully unhelpful: “You’ll never know. I don’t know. Do you know? I don’t know.”

She did get more serious when pushed. “Obviously, there are She-Hulk stories from the ’80s all the way to now, and they continue to be written, so there’s a lot in that character that’s very exciting,” she said. The comics, she pointed out, are still being made. The well isn’t dry.

Things got thornier late last year when Maslany publicly encouraged followers to cancel their Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN subscriptions amid the Jimmy Kimmel controversy. A scooper known as MTTSH subsequently claimed that “Marvel Studios wanted to use She-Hulk in a big way for Avengers: Secret Wars” but that Maslany “has no interest in working for Disney” — and that if she couldn’t be convinced, the options were recasting or removing the character entirely. Marvel has not commented on any of this.

Where Things Stand With the MCU

As of now, Maslany has no confirmed role in Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars. Fan speculation flared last year when she cancelled a convention appearance around the time Doomsday was filming, but nothing has been confirmed. There’s always the possibility of a surprise — Marvel loves those — but it would be strange for the studio to tease it this openly if something were imminent.

A crossover with Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock has also been floated, given that Daredevil appeared in She-Hulk before returning in Daredevil: Born Again. Cox himself has left the door open, saying of a potential reciprocal appearance: “It’s an opportunity. It’s a whole different kind of fun with that. And maybe at some point we’ll get to see the favor returned.” But he’s also acknowledged the tonal gap — the Matt Murdock of Born Again is a much more serious creature than the one who did a walk of shame in She-Hulk.

Meanwhile, Marvel is navigating its own priorities. Kevin Feige has been vocal about pulling back on output after the Multiverse Saga’s uneven reception, and the studio is reportedly planning a soft reset post-Secret Wars — carrying over the characters and storylines that resonated most. Whether Jennifer Walters makes that cut is genuinely uncertain.

What is certain: She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was more popular than its reputation suggests. Recent data revealed it was one of Disney+’s more-watched Marvel series with general audiences, even if it divided the hardcore fandom. Maslany was genuinely great in it. And a She-Hulk story built around the chaos of the present moment — the kind of pointed, funny, self-aware storytelling the character was made for — sounds like exactly the kind of show that could work.

The question is whether Marvel agrees. And whether Maslany and the studio can get on the same page long enough to make it happen.