We Could Get Season 2 of 'What If…?' as Early as 2022
It's been an absolute blast to watch the first season of What If...?, Marvel Studios' first-ever foray into the world of animation. You know the deal by now, but just in case: the show comes from the perspective of Uatu, The Watcher (voiced by Jeffrey Wright), who examines the hypothetical/alternate realities where scenarios from the Marvel Cinematic Universe films that we know and love (and have maybe rewatched about 100 times) were just slightly different. Sometimes those differentiations cause larger ripples in the timeline than others, but it always makes for 30 minutes of compelling superhero television.
The stakes in What If... were, for a while, unknown. But after the majority of the show's first 7 episodes aired—each its own version of a standalone story or cautionary tale—things all started coming together when a universe-threatening for emerged. In this case, that was Ultron. And after the penultimate episode saw him threaten to wipe out life as we know it, The Watcher decided to break his oath and intervene for the finale, bringing together all of our heroes to form a brand new team. It made things fit together in a way that many didn't see possible, and went a long way to make the entire first season, and What If... in general, feel more cohesive.
The way the first season of What If... ended could have an impact on how the second season—which we know, for sure, is coming—plays out. But even though we know some threads may continue to be built upon, the show is not going to lose its main focus: making us wonder. And we're wondering a lot these days, not only about the rest of Season 1, but what more What If...? season 2 could have in store.
Will there definitely be a Season 2 of What If...? on Disney+?
Yes, we can be certain that there will. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige confirmed back in 2019 that What If... would just off the bat have a Season 1 and 2, both consisting of 10 episodes each. However, these plans changed when the world changed with Covid-19; both seasons will now have 9 episodes.
Executive producer Brad Winderbaum explained the situation in an interview with Collider. "We had to push an episode into Season 2. It was just, honestly, like everything else, that was a COVID impact," he said. "There was an episode that just wouldn't hit the completion date, but luckily we do get to see it in the second season of the show."
So that's good—we're not losing anything they really wanted us to get.
Winderbaum also said that he and the entire What If...? team envision the show as an annual release. "We'll see what happens," he said. "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."
What would Season 2 of What If...? be about?
It's certain that Season 2 of What If...? will do a bunch more of what What If...? Season 1 did—make us wonder. But the post-credits scene from the Season 1 finale seemed to particularly tease an episode that we'd be curious in seeing. While the initial idea of Peggy and Steve (in his Hydra Stomper suit; more on that in a moment) may seem to be mirroring The First Avenger's unforgettable dance in the closing moments of Avengers: Endgame, we are also thinking that it could be setting up a key What If... episode, if not full storyline, for Season 2.
Remember that in the first episode of What If..., it was Steve Rogers—not Bucky Barnes—who fell off the train and was experimented on by Arnim Zola and HYDRA. That means that while Steve may still be alive, there's a decent chance that he's been brainwashed and turned into an assassin for Captain Carter's greatest enemies. While the episodes that have gone a little more out there have usually been among the more fun—we're thinking the Marvel Dawn of the Dead we got midseason—a 'What If....Steve Rogers Was The Winter Soldier?" episode sounds pretty damn good to us.
We're also eager to see if some other teased threads wind up playing out. One possibility: Ego finding Peter Quill on earth, working at a Dairy Queen. Did you notice Kurt Russell's name in the opening credits? Hard to imagine Disney would bring in an actor and star of that magnitude only for him to literally have just a line or two. Keep an eye on that specific thread for Season 2 as well.
When will Season 2 of What If...? come out?
Animation takes a long time to produce. But Windrebaum confirmed in a different interview with Collider that his team got the green light on What If...?'s Season 2 early enough that Season 2 could debut as early as 2022. "As you know with animation, it takes a long time to produce," he said. "We were fortunate enough to get the green light on a second season early enough to have a chance to release it next year,"
Captain Carter will return in Season 2
While we don't know much about what will happen in Season 2, we know that Captain Carter (voiced by Hayley Atwell) will return. As Winderbaum told i09, that's a character they feel very connected to.
“We realized as we started developing the second season that Captain Carter was going to be the character we would revisit in every season, and continue that adventure,” Winderbaum said. “Obviously, we’re telling a story on a giant multiversal canvas. So you never really know who’s going to pop up where and when. It’s very much an anthology, but there’s always opportunity for fun connections to be made.”
Whose voices will we hear in What If...? Season 2?
Another question we don't entirely know the answer to. But it's safe to assume we'll be hearing more from Hayley Atwell, considering its been confirmed that Captain Carter will return. Maybe that also means that the Captain America storyline characters are also involved, meaning Sebastian Stan, Samuel L. Jackson, and possibly Anthony Mackie could be involved as well. And it also likely means that Josh Keaton will voice Steve Rogers again, instead of Chris Evans.
That will likely be the case with all the voice re-castings; it's likely that Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Holland (among others) will also not be voicing their characters. But on the flipside, we do expect those who did return to be back as well. That means Mark Ruffalo, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, etc. should all return.
And by the time What If...? Season 2 comes out, we'll possibly have a whole slew of new heroes to get into the mix. Maybe Simu Liu comes in as Shang-Chi, or Oscar Isaac as Moon Knight? Maybe some of the Eternals, or Black Knight? Hell, maybe by that point we start hearing from some mutants or members of the Fantastic Four? Who's to say?
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