Zoe Saldaña Talks Difference Between Trekkies and Marvel Fans on ‘Hot Ones’

Hot questions and even hotter wings collide once again on the latest episode of Hot Ones with host Sean Evans.

This week’s guest is none other than Zoe Saldaña, who will next be seen in the long-awaited Avatar sequel The Way of Water, out this month. Of course, this is not the only enthusiasm-spurring franchise of which Saldaña is a part. Her extensive filmography also includes three Star Trek entries and two (plus another next year) Guardians of the Galaxy films.

Asked just after the three-minute mark in the video above to name the “biggest difference” between Trekkies and Marvel megafans, Saldaña pointed to the longstanding seriousness with which Star Trek scholars have treated their passion.

“There are differences,” she explained. “I think that Trekkies take it far more serious. They’re lovely. I think it was mirroring the kind of world that people wanted to see at that time in the 60s, so it just has, like, a very special place in people’s hearts.”

While Saldaña didn’t elaborate when it came to the Marvel fandom, she did speak more generally about the experience of being involved with productions of that scale, describing the process as one with notable pros and cons.

“I mean, when you work for Marvel, it’s just everything, it feels like a cult,” she said. “You’re like, what’s going on? Like, I’m dressed in green, four hours of makeup. We must be shooting something. What is it? And that has its advantages and disadvantages.”

The advantages, Saldaña continued, center on the element of “surprise” crucial to such stories. The disadvantages, meanwhile, are (in her opinion) most felt by the actors.

“The advantages are that you savor the surprise for the end and you don’t ruin it and the audience is able to have an amazing adventure when they go to the movies to watch it,” Saldaña told Evans. “The disadvantage is mainly for the actor because you don’t know what you’re doing, you don’t know where you’re going, you don’t know what you’re saying, you don’t know what’s gonna happen. And that can be a little nerve-racking.”

See the full Hot Ones, Loot reference included, up top. Avatar: The Way of Water, which Saldaña bills as James Cameron’s “love letter to the ocean,” hits theaters on Dec. 16.