The “Ted Lasso” star was about “two-thirds” of the way through filming Season 3 of the Emmy-winning AppleTV+ comedy while also juggling co-creating and executive producing upcoming Harrison Ford-led series “Shrinking.” Yet Goldstein somehow made time to make his MCU debut. “It was literally out of the blue one night, and I was very busy, and it was like, ‘Can you make time for a Zoom?’” Goldstein recalled to The Playlist about the “surreal” experience. “They sort of opened with, ‘So Russell Crowe is Zeus,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, OK, go on.’ And blah, blah, blah. And then they turn around, and they reveal, ‘It’s Hercules; it’s you.’ And I went, ‘What?’ Just like, ‘Are you serious? Are you f**king with me? Is this a wind-up?’”

Goldstein joked, “So yeah, it was as surprising to me as I think it has been to other people.” The stand-up comedian even spoke to “Thor: Love and Thunder” writer-director Taika Waititi for a reality check. Related ‘Shrinking’ Teaser: Harrison Ford Stars with Jason Segel in Apple TV+ Comedy from ‘Ted Lasso’ Team Chris Hemsworth Says Next ‘Thor’ Role Will ‘Probably Be the Finale’ for His Character Related 23 Controversial Film and TV Book Adaptations That Rankled Their Audiences and Authors Oscars 2023: Remarkable Transformations Lead the Way in Makeup and Hairstyling
“I said, ‘You know I’m basically like a skinny comedian?’ I said, ‘When is this filming?’” Goldstein shared. “It was like in two weeks, and I was like, ‘I mean, I’ll do my best, but two weeks feels…’” He added, “I said, ‘He doesn’t have to be as big as Thor, does he?’ And look, on the day, I mean, I’m doing 400 pushups that day. I was fit to explode. I did the best I could on that day, yeah.” Goldstein continued, “In a way, that was an experience that I haven’t had for a long time, where I had no involvement in the behind-the-scenes of it. Look, you’re in f**king good hands. They make really good shit. Do you know what I mean? And Taika Waititi’s fucking brilliant, so it was like, ‘I’m in the best hands possible.’ But it’s amazing. Who knows if anything will come of it? Who knows, but it was a fun thing to do, and I’m pleased that people seem to have enjoyed it.” But just in case Kevin Feige and Marvel call again, Goldstein will be fit and ready: “I’m going to eat 30 chickens a day from now on. It will be fine,” he deadpanned. Waititi previously told IndieWire that it was Marvel president Kevin Feige’s idea to put Hercules in the film and even he is in the dark about Feige’s plans for Goldstein. Plus, Feige just wanted to “see what Brett looks like” as Hercules. “All I know is that we wanted to show that Russell [Crowe] wasn’t dead, because he had just gotten a lightning bolt through his heart and fell off that thing,” Waititi said. “I wanted to make sure we had a tag where, ‘Oh, he’s back, because I love that character and want to see more of him.’ Then Kevin was like, ‘Oh, why don’t we put Hercules in there?’ He even cast Brett. He was like, ‘I want to see what Brett looks like in this.’”

Well, Feige (and all of the “Ted Lasso” stans) certainly got an eyeful… Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.