What If...? season 1 was narrated by The Watcher, a character we soon learned couldn't resist getting involved with the realities he'd been tasked with observing.
In an effort to stop Infinity Ultron, we saw Jeffrey Wright's Uatu assemble the Guardians of the Multiverse; he even suited up to fight the insanely powerful android, hopefully setting the stage for the character to be an important part of the Multiverse Saga beyond just animation.
I Am Groot season 2 hit Disney+ today and the finale features The Watcher's return. He keeps a close eye on the sentient tree as he enters a sacred temple and repeatedly shares his desire for Groot to secure an ancient seed which he believes holds the key to happiness in the universe.
Groot being Groot, things don't quite go that way, and the seed is destroyed by lava. The Watcher - Wright gets to explore a very different side of the character here - panics that the Guardian has been killed, but he's fine, and Uatu realises it's Groot who is destined to bring joy wherever he goes.
Interestingly, as the finale ends, we learn Groot can actually see The Watcher!
"We were really excited about the prospect of bringing The Watcher in in a very different capacity than we’ve seen him in in What If…?" I Am Groot director Kirsten Lepore tells us in the video below. "Working with Jeffrey Wright was amazing and I can’t say enough great things about that recording session. He’s such a cool guy."
"We didn’t know but as soon as Jeffrey came in, it was ‘Boom, there it is. Incredible.’ He knocked it out of the park the first time around. He is The Watcher and embodies it. It was magical to witness him bringing that character to life in that capacity...and to give him a little sense of humour we hadn’t really seen."
The troublemaking twig returns to mischief in the second season of I Am Groot. This time, Baby Groot finds himself exploring the universe and beyond aboard the Guardians' spaceships, coming face-to-face - or nose-to-nose - with new and colourful creatures and environments.
Vin Diesel is back as the voice of Groot in five all-new shorts. Kirsten Lepore, writer/director of season one, returns in the same capacity for season two.
The supervising producer is Danielle Costa; producers are Craig Rittenbaum and Alex Scharf; executive producers are Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso and Kirsten Lepore. Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt is the co-executive producer.
The entirety of I Am Groot season 2 is now streaming on Disney+.