Chris Hemsworth is giving fans a peek of his appearance nearly 50 years in the future.
Hemsworth, 39, shared several photos on Instagram on Friday, Jan. 27 from his series “Limitless with Chris Hemsworth” that depicted the actor in his mid-80s.
In the first photo, Hemsworth posed for a headshot with gray hair and facial hair, as well as some extra fine lines and wrinkles along his forehead and cheeks. Another photo captured Hemsworth and his wife Elsa Pataky both appearing older.
One slide showed Hemsworth portraying an elderly version of his Marvel character, Thor, as he stood in front of a green screen in full costume, while the last photo captured him with his brothers Liam Hemsworth and Luke Hemsworth, who also looked several decades older as they posed in front of a snowy mountain.
“Not too bad for turning 85 in the blink of an eye!” Hemsworth captioned the post.
Hemsworth’s National Geographic series premiered on Disney+ on Nov. 16, 2022. In a description on the streaming service’s website, the show poses the question, “What if you could combat aging and discover the full potential of the human body?”
For the series, Hemsworth underwent several genetic tests. During the fifth episode of “Limitless,” Hemsworth discovered that his genetic makeup includes two copies of the gene APOE4, one from each parent. According to the National Institute on Aging, APOE4 is the “strongest risk factor gene” for Alzheimer’s however it does not mean that a person will necessarily develop the disease in the future.
Speaking to Willie Geist during a November 2022 "Sunday Sitdown," Hemsworth called the news “a real shock,” explaining, “They did a deep dive into my blood work and my genetics … and found some indications that put me in a very high category, a risk category, for Alzheimer’s.”
However, Hemsworth said that this genetic discovery “became a wonderful motivator to make changes ... and pay attention to my sleep habits and further attention to my stress management.”
In an interview with Vanity Fair that same month, Hemsworth explained how he has found the silver lining in learning more about his genetic makeup during the series.
“For me, the positive of it was like, ‘Right, if I didn’t know this [Alzheimer’s] information, I wouldn’t have made the changes I made,’” he said. “I just wasn’t aware of any of it, so now I feel thankful that I have in my arsenal the sort of tools to best prepare myself and prevent things happening in that way.”
Hemsworth also shared that he was given the choice to move forward with the episode without mentioning Alzheimer’s, but he decided against that option.
“I thought, ‘No, look, if this is a motivator for people to take better care of themselves and also understand that there are steps you can take—then fantastic,’” he said. “My concern was I just didn’t want to manipulate it and overdramatize it, and make it into some sort of hokey grab at empathy or whatever for entertainment.”
In the sixth and final episode of the series titled “Acceptance,” Hemsworth goes to a retirement home where he is surprised by his wife who had undergone a slight aesthetic change to ease his fears of aging in light of his news.
Pataky, 46, wore prosthetics on her face, neck, and hands and donned a light-colored wig to show herself four decades into the future, in her 80s. She surprised Hemsworth at a dance at the retirement home as his date, with the actor telling his wife seeing her made him “teary eyed.”
“I think this moment we will remember forever,” she said at one point during a confessional in the episode.” It was so deep and so unexpected. I felt safe. It was so beautiful.”
While sitting next to her husband at the dance, she told him, “I want to live those years with you. We need those memories.”