Zoe Saldaña Felt Artistically Stuck While Starring in Movie Franchises

Zoe Saldaña is no stranger to the world of major blockbuster franchises, having starred in several. However, the actress recently shared that working on only big blockbusters left her feeling stuck.

In a recent interview with Women’s Wear Daily, Saldaña — who has starred in both the Avatar franchise as well as Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy — opened up about being “stuck” after working in mostly big blockbusters, despite being grateful for the opportunities given to her.

“I feel that for the last 10 years of my life, I’ve been just stuck. I felt stuck doing these franchises,” Saldaña said. “I’m very grateful for the opportunities that they provided, from collaborating with amazing directors and getting to meet cast members that I consider friends and getting to play a role that fans, especially children, love. But it also meant that I felt artistically stuck in my craft of not being able to expand or grow or challenge myself by playing different sorts of genres and different roles.”

Outside of the world of Avatar and the MCU, Saldaña has also starred in the rebooted Star Trek series. With the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 set to be the final iteration of this team of Guardians and Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar 3 having already been filmed, Saldaña’s time in large franchises could be coming to an end, giving her the chance to play other roles in the future.

Besides her role in large franchises, Saldaña also starred in the 2022 Netflix limited series From Scratch, a role that critics and audiences praised for its dramatic and emotional portrayal.