'Thunderbolts* The New Avengers' director says that killing off key character was "not something we did lightly"

Marvel fans were pretty shocked when Olga Kurylenko's Taskmaster was abruptly killed off early on in Thunderbolts* The New Avengers. This led to some backlash, and director Jake Schreier is opening up about the reasoning behind the decision. 

"It was something that happened after the strike, when we were redeveloping the script. I know that there are people that have reached out to let me know that they’re displeased with this, and I totally understand that. It’s not something we did lightly," he told Variety. "As we looked at the script and tried to do a new version, it was a little bloodless. In order to honor these characters and what they do, being contract killers … to have that movie take place with no one showing what that means didn’t really feel like it would land with as much impact. We considered all versions of it."

He continued to express, "Obviously, I think Olga is a wonderful actress. It’s a hard thing to do. It’s just showing that, for these characters, this is a thing that’s done, and they feel that all of their lives don’t have a ton of value."