“The Marvels ”producer on cats, musical numbers, and that major mid-credits scene

Executive producer Mary Livanos answers all of our spoilery questions — from that Andrew Lloyd Webber needle drop to that X-citing cameo.

Warning: This story contains major spoilers for The Marvels.

The Marvels introduces a few new faces to the Marvel Cinematic Universe – as well as resurrecting a few familiar ones.

Marvel's latest adventure is a team affair, uniting Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), and Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) as they bounce around the cosmos, facing off against Kree revolutionary Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton). Their odyssey takes them to some previously unexplored corners of the MCU — including a musical planet where everyone speaks in song and a space station filled with man-eating kittens (also known as flerkens).

Directed by Nia DaCosta, the film mostly centers on Carol, Monica, and Kamala's relationship, picking up on threads from past projects such as Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and WandaVision. But the film also looks to the future, with an ending and a mid-credits scene that could mean big things for the next chapter of the MCU.

Here, executive producer Mary Livanos answers all of our spoilery questions about The Marvels, from that intriguing X-Men tease to what it's like filming with a whole clowder of cats.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First things first, let's talk cats. Tell me everything about filming the scene where a horde of flerkens eat the S.A.B.E.R. space crew, set to "Memory" from the Cats musical.

MARY LIVANOS: The flerken scene was amazing. I mean, talk about art as life. [Laughs] We had all the crew members trying to wrangle the cats. I have an amazing video of Nia watching them practice, and she lunges after all the flerken kittens as they scoot by, running off into different directions. We all became the S.A.B.E.R. crew in that moment.

I was such a fan of the flerken kittens in the comics. Kelly Sue DeConnick's run of Captain Marvel was incredible, and we really wanted to capture the spirit of those books. We were so lucky to have her as a consultant for this, and the flerken kittens were such a big-ticket item for us. We always knew that we needed to get them in on the action somehow, and I love the way they come in surprisingly clutch.

It's not every day you get to go to work and hang out with a whole squad of kittens.

It was wonderful. I mean, the whole crew melted. Every big strong grip guy was like, "Do they need homes after the shot? Can we adopt them?" The kittens were all spoken for, and everyone was happy to hear that, but they were a little disappointed.

Was using "Memory" from Cats always the first choice?

That was always the choice. Nia held that song in her heart, and it was in the first cut we ever saw. It had to stay, hands down.

Speaking of music, let's talk about the planet Aladna. When did you decide that you wanted to choreograph a musical number?

Like the flerken kittens, Aladna was something we always wanted to do from the very early days of development. Again, Aladna appears in Kelly Sue DeConnick's run of Captain Marvel, and we loved the idea that Carol has this incredible relationship with Prince Yan [played by Park Seo-joon]. So many fans and so many characters within the MCU, like Kamala, have theories as to what Carol's been up to, and we loved that she has this sort of vulnerable spot on Aladna.

It took so much choreography and practice and rehearsal, but we're really pleased with how it came out. To make Carol the princess she was always meant to be was a delight.

So, does this mean Carol Danvers is an official Disney princess?

I would say so! [Laughs]

We also see Tessa Thompson pop up as Valkyrie, and we get to see her relationship with Carol. Why did you specifically want to pair those two together on screen?

Pairing Carol with Valkyrie and having them share the big screen was another bucket list item. Fans really shipped them and their friendship, and as a huge nerd myself, I was dying to see that relationship on the big screen. Nia DaCosta is quite close with Tessa Thompson, so we had to write in a cameo. [Ed. note: Thompson starred in DaCosta's first film, 2018's Little Woods.] She's such an empathetic, wonderful character. When we were trying to figure out exactly how to help the Skrulls after the events that take place on Tarnax, we were excited at the idea that Valkyrie could help in this novel way.

So much of this movie hinges on the switching between Carol, Monica, and Kamala. How did you want to approach those action scenes?

The notion that Captain Marvel could switch places with a human counterpart was something we loved in the comics but didn't quite know how to bring to the screen. As we were trying to figure out how we could take Monica, Carol, and Kamala and pair them up on this adventure together, it was hard to figure out what would bind these three characters from these different spaces together. Megan McDonnell, our amazing writer, came to the table with the idea that perhaps their light-based powers could become entangled, and that really is the glue that binds our heroes together. The core dilemma of this film is also what makes that relationship so wonderful. But by far, entanglement was the hardest thing to bring to the big screen.

Celebrating this movie over the past couple of days, it's been fun to reflect on the biggest challenges and talk about it with Megan and Nia and [writer] Elissa Karasik. The switching was so difficult to crack on the page. It took so much imagination and tracking. Megan made these incredible discs with the characters' faces on them, and we would flip them around and switch them to make sure that everything tracked. Then, of course, Nia did so much work with her storyboarding and her collaboration with all of our incredible department heads. It really took everyone's full collective brain power to make sure that it could translate on screen.

We also have to talk about the ending. We see Kamala doing her best Nick Fury impression, as she waits for Hailee Steinfeld's Kate Bishop. What do you remember most about filming that scene and setting up a potential Young Avengers team-up?

It was total fan wish fulfillment. I really wanted to start to bring the younger heroes of this universe together. As we were trying to figure out what the tags could be or what threads we could leave at the end of this film, we remembered that amidst all the action in the Khans' living room, Monica probably left her tablet there, where she's tracking all these different heroes. She has information about Kamala, and we wondered who else she might have information on. And in Monica's absence, Kamala really is the perfect person to bring folks together. She brings the Marvels together, and we're excited to see how she may bring other heroes together moving forward.

Why specifically did you want to bring in Kate Bishop?

They're both younger heroes from the tri-state area. I so loved the Hawkeye show, and I'm excited for all the characters in that area to start to unite. What we're picking up here will lead to some pretty exciting things for whatever the other Marvel teams have planned in the future.

There's also the end-credits scene, where Monica wakes up in another dimension with Lashana Lynch as Binary and Kelsey Grammer back as Beast. Did you always know that The Marvels would be the movie to introduce the X-Men?

The notion that Monica ends up in an alternate universe with the hope that it could tie in with the X-Men was something I always had on my to-do list. I love how in the comics, Carol Danvers as Binary spends some time with the X-Men in space, and I love the idea that in an alternate universe, it was Maria who beat Carol Danvers to the hangar back during the events of Captain Marvel, so she won and got those powers. That was something that was always really intriguing. Again, in Kelly Sue DeConnick's run of Captain Marvel, there's an incredible storyline where Carol essentially time travels and gives herself powers in the past, rather than the male Captain Marvel. That was always a really mind-bending, beautiful storyline that we wanted to bring to life in some way. So, we tried to capture that spirit with this, and of course, it hearkens back to their conversation on the porch, when Carol goes to visit Maria.

But I'm so delighted that Kevin [Feige] and folks were stoked about the idea of Binary and the fact that she does fit into the X-Men universe. As a fan, I was just absolutely floored and delighted that we got to get Beast in there and have a big old X, right behind Binary. It was bananas.

How did Kelsey Grammer get involved in this?

Kevin Feige just called him up! Kevin, of course, worked on the X-Men films back in the day, so they have their own wonderful relationship. We were just so lucky to have him.

I love getting to have Lashana Lynch back, especially after Captain Marvel and her cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. What was fun about getting to put her in this new role as Binary?

What I love about Lashana and the character of Maria is just how near and dear Carol is to her, and how she is to Carol. She's such an action star in her own right, and I really loved the idea that she could be her own action hero in a different Marvel storyline. I'm so excited for whatever the future may bring for her. I have high hopes, and I know fans really want to see more from Lashana.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Related content:

• The Marvels ending and post-credits scene, explained

• Marvel boss Kevin Feige teases X-Men joining the MCU: 'Perhaps soon'

• Kevin Feige opens up about Phase 5, Kang, and the future of the MCU

• How The Marvels director Nia DaCosta literally herded cats

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