Kenneth Branagh 'wasn't ready' to direct Thor: The Dark World

Kenneth Branagh declined the offer to direct the sequel Thor: The Dark World because he "wasn't ready".

The British actor/director helmed the hugely successful Marvel blockbuster Thor, which marked the debut of Chris Hemsworth as the Norse god, back in 2011.

Even though the film was well-received by critics and grossed more than $449 million (£355 million) at the worldwide box office, Branagh decided to pass on directing duties for the sequel in 2013.

The 59-year-old told Collider that he had worked on Thor for more than three years and needed to "recharge" with a less strenuous project.

"When the first one was finished, essentially it had been three fantastic years of my life, but I needed to recharge on something else. I was too close to the glass on that one, so I would definitely never say never again because it changed my life and changed my career and I'm profoundly grateful for it," he explained. "I wasn't ready to go straight into another one, but I like the idea of... I'd love to be planning something that was a three-parter in movie terms. That hasn't come along yet but maybe it will."

He also suggested that he had originally planned to work on a Thor trilogy, but that wasn't possible as the first movie had to perform well at the box office before any sequel was greenlit by Marvel.

"Sometimes with these stories I like to plan them as trilogies, but it's much harder in this world for that to work out because the stakes are so high you've gotta really see how the first one does," Branagh stated.

Directing duties on the Thor sequel were originally given to Patty Jenkins, now famous for directing Wonder Woman, but she left the project because she didn't think she could make a good film from the script being used. It was eventually helmed by Alan Taylor.