The pandemic has made it so that Marvel Cinematic Universe fans had to wait nearly two years for fresh content. Unfortunately, it has certainly felt like a lifetime for those who regularly tune into the Marvel Studios shared universe, almost as if viewers themself were in the blip.
This year finally saw the return of content thanks to Disney+, but COVID has still affected the shows. For example, WandaVision was initially meant to have ten episodes and was shortened to nine, leaving some of Darcy's character arc along with a cool demon rabbit scene on the cutting room floor.
Falcon and the Winter Soldier was heavily impacted in many ways. First of all, the series was supposed to air before WandaVision. The story was altered because of the pandemic parallels in the plot, so much so that an entire character was written out, and some of the plot pieces are clearly missing. That's not even to mention that Kevin Feige himself confirmed that Falcon was impacted by the delay of Black Widow.
While Loki seemed unaffected, What If...? has now been confirmed to have a shortened episode count due to the pandemic. Unable to finish in time, one episode has been pushed to Season 2, marking the episode could for each of the seasons to 9 each, 18 in total, according to executive producer Brad Winderbaum
"We had to push an episode into Season 2. It was just, honestly, like everything else, that was a COVID impact. 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. Season 2 will also be 9.
We targeted half an hour for each episode. Some of them come in a little longer, some of them come in a little shorter. We wanted to tell as many stories as we could, and we had a certain budget we had to work with, so it felt like that 10-episode — now 9-episode run — was the right quantity."
Are you guys disappointed in the shorter episode run in the first season, or do you prefer that the team takes their time to nail down everything perfectly?
Regardless of your thoughts, be sure to share them in the usual spot below, and let us know which What If...? variant character you're most excited to see!
Enter the multiverse of unlimited possibilities. Marvel Studios' first animated series, What If...?, starts streaming August 11 with new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+. “What If… ?” features fan-favorite characters, including Peggy Carter, T’Challa, Doctor Strange, Killmonger, Thor and more. The new series, directed by Bryan Andrews with AC Bradley as head writer, features signature MCU action with a curious twist.
Disney+ will begin streaming the first three episodes of Marvel's What If...? on Wednesday, August 11th.