Now that the dust has settled on the first season of Disney Plus animated series What If…?, fans are left to reflect on the nine weird and wonderful multiversal adventures they’ve just witnessed. For the most part, the show has proven to be a popular and valuable addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the good news for those who loved it is that Season 2 is already in development.
Some plot points proved to be contentious among fans for making fairly large or out-of-character deviations, but the overwhelming majority of folks will be in agreement that Jeffrey Wright knocked it out of the park as the Watcher. Few in the industry do grizzled, gravel-throated gravitas as well as the Westworld star, and yesterday’s Season 1 finale even allowed him to inject some comedy into his performance.
In a new interview with Variety, creator and lead writer A.C. Bradley admitted she’d love to see Wright make the jump into the live-action MCU, even if he wasn’t reprising the role of the Watcher.
“Jeffrey Wright can play any role he wants, as far as I’m concerned. If he wants to play Sue Storm, sign him up!”
Director Bryan Andrews was more forthcoming in his response, revealing that while it’s up to Kevin Feige at the end of the day, it would help deepen the connective tissue across the multiverse were he to show up.
“We love him. It’s up to Kevin. At some point, maybe? Who knows what they have in store. There’s some things that we may know, but there’s a lot that even we don’t know, because they keep it buttoned up. But I’m with the audience. I think it would be amazing to see. I would love to see some random shots where there’s Jeffrey Wright, watching from a distance.”
Wright has already teased the possibility of the Watcher casting his gaze over much more than the animated universe of Marvel’s What If…?, and a live-action debut can’t be ruled out when you remember the sheer scope and scale of Phase Four.