Marvel’s Kevin Feige Hints At Multiple Seasons for Upcoming Disney Plus Series
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Fielding Television Critics Assn. press tour questions from the set of “Ms. Marvel,” Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige reiterated that “WandaVision” star Elizabeth Olsen — or “Lizzie Olsen,” as he called her — will go right from the limited series into the new “Doctor Strange” film. But he left the door open for other upcoming Disney Plus series to welcome second seasons.
“The fun of the MCU is obviously all of the crossover that we can do between series, between films,” he said. “So it will always vary based on the story. Sometimes they’ll go into a Season 2, sometimes it will go into a feature and then back into a series. We’ve announced that ‘Ms. Marvel,’ after her debut on Disney Plus, will be going into the second “Captain Marvel” film. But sometimes — it’s yet to be announced, but we are thinking of planning second seasons for some of the upcoming series.”
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After “WandaVision” comes to a close, “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” is slated to premiere on Disney Plus on March 19, followed by “Loki” on June 11. “She-Hulk,” starring Tatiana Maslany, and “Moon Knight,” featuring Ethan Hawke, are also in the works.
“We are developing all of these shows the way we’re developing our our movies,” said Feige. “In other words, when we start with a movie, we hope there’s a part two, we hope there’s a part three. But we aren’t factoring that into the part one. We are trying to make something that people enjoy enough to want to revisit enough that they want to see the story continued. So that is the way we’re proceeding on television as well.”
Adding that he has “been at Marvel for too long to say a definite no or definite yes to anything,” the studio boss noted there were certain shows in which Marvel Studios had already begun thinking about possible subsequent seasons.
“Some of the shows that I mentioned that we were about to start filming, we are keeping in mind a structure that would lead into a Season 2, a Season 3, in a more direct way than, say, a show like, like ‘WandaVision,’ which clearly goes into into a feature,” he said.
Noting how pricey it was to shoot the six-hour “Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” however, and the story that the studio wanted to tell, Feige said that six episodes is “just what we landed on early” with that particular series.
Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan are “spectacular actors,” he said, recalling seeing their chemistry in the dailies while filming “Captain America: Civil War.”
“We felt like we hadn’t explored their stories, their backstory or their personal stories enough as Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, so it was always the thought that we wanted to learn more about both of them,” he said. “In the little interactions they had with each other in ‘Winter Soldier,’ in ‘Civil War’… seeing them interact with each other as friends of a mutual best friend in Captain America, it was a very fun dynamic. And we thought if we ever had that opportunity, we’d watch a whole show with the two of them — and Disney Plus finally gives us that opportunity.”
Separately, fans of “Jessica Jones,” “Agent Carter,” and other Marvel TV series can hold out a sliver of hope that the studio would consider reincorporating those characters into future projects.
When asked if Marvel Studios could bring the rights to Netflix’s or ABC’s Marvel-branded television series back into the fold, Feige responded, “I think we probably could. I think a lot of that stuff comes back to us. There are always rumors online about things reverting. Sometimes that’s true. Sometimes it’s not. And I’m not exactly sure of the exact contracts, but perhaps someday.”
As for the well-received “WandaVision,” Feige revealed that while there were “all sorts of discussions” around the casting of Wanda’s brother Pietro Maximoff — namely, whether it would come down to the “Age of Ultron” Pietro, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, or the “X-Men: Days of Future Past” Peter Maximoff, Evan Peters — the show’s creators ended up deciding to go with Peters “relatively early on in the development process.”
“[It was] just another way that that certain people were messing around with Wanda,” he said.
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