During a recent press tour, Marvel producer Brad Winderbaum reveals that What If…? season 2 could potentially see a release as early as 2022.
A Marvel producer recently suggested that season 2 of What If…? could see a release as early as 2022. With a 9 episode first season, What If…? takes iconic MCU storylines and reinvents them in a variety of different ways, as it explores the different corners of the multiverse. By experimenting with the typical narrative formula of these stories, it allows the writers to generate interesting new concepts and genres within the MCU, as well as showcase certain new heroes who may have never found their way to the MCU through conventional means.
Airing weekly on Disney+, the first two episodes of the series had a predominant focus on how the MCU would be altered if one of the main heroes were changed, for instance, how the universe would fare differently if T’Challa became Star-Lord instead of Peter Quill. The third episode however, shifted genres entirely into a murder mystery, as it investigated what would happen if the Avengers were killed off one by one, before their very first mission. Many of the MCU’s original cast members return to voice their respective characters in animated form, including Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter/Captain Carter, Tom Hiddleston as Loki and even the late Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa.
While season 1 of the show still has 6 episodes set for release, it appears that Marvel already has plans set in motion for season 2. During a recent press tour for What If…?, producer Brad Winderbaum revealed to Collider, that they are aiming for a new season of the show to be released annually, with season 2 planned as early as 2022. Check out his quote below:
“As you know with animation, it takes a long time to produce. We were fortunate enough to get the green light on a second season early enough to have a chance to release it next year. We’ll see what happens. Obviously, I don’t want to predict the future with this new world we live in, but our intention is to make it an annual release.”
With an increasing number of heroes soon to be added to the MCU, including Shang-Chi and the Eternals, Marvel will have even more characters and storylines to explore in season 2 of What If…?. As it still remains unclear whether the show is a collection of separate one-off stories, or if they will eventually join together to form a wider narrative, it will be interesting to see which stories get expanded upon further in season 2. Captain Carter is one character who definitely seems as if she has a lot more characterization to come and her own stories to tell in future episodes, while the passing of Chadwick Boseman means that T’Challa shouldn’t be included past season 1, out of the respect for the late actor who brought so much to the role.
Winderbaum also commented on how the events of What If…? are just as important as the rest of the events in the MCU. With the multiverse soon becoming major plot line in both Spider-Man: No Way Home and Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, there is a huge potential that certain characters from What If…? could eventually make their live-action debut, such as Captain Carter. It could also give the perfect origin for some of Marvel’s recently acquired teams, including the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, to make their way to the MCU, without having to justify why they weren’t around to save the world prior to that point.
Source: Collider