As the Endgame phase of the MCU has ended, Marvel’s parent company, Disney, has been churning out several Marvel-related series that not only gave us something to chew on while waiting for the next big theatrical release, but also expanded the MCU. One of those series is the fan-favourite “What If…?” – an animated series that presented the beloved cast in an alternate universe where certain scenarios panned out differently.
Though the concept of the series has a comic book counterpart, the alternate events that were shown in the series are still based on the MCU that we know and love. Many fans, logically speaking, assumed that the series would run indefinitely, as Disney has a few more live-action films down the pipeline. Which is why it was quite a surprise when Brad Winderbaum, Marvel Studio’s Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation, revealed that “What If…?” will have its third and final season.
While there is no date for the premiere of season 3 yet and no other details, Disney officials have confirmed that this will be the last time Uatu the Guardian will be in the spotlight. Jeffrey Wright, the voice actor for the omniscient being since the series’ debut in 2021, has become more than just a simple watcher, as his title suggests.
“He’s not the Watcher that he was at the beginning,” Wright previously mentioned to Entertainment Weekly. “He’s a different Watcher now. He’s broken the fourth wall, so that’s wonderful because it gives a nice complexity to the character, and it also allows him to be active in ways that he wasn’t at the beginning of the series. It’s exciting stuff.”
In an episode of the Official Marvel Podcast, Winderbaum stated that “it feels like the completion of a trilogy.” Later in the podcast, he went on to say that “it takes us to places that you’d never expect. It goes beyond the first two seasons in its exploration of the multiverse. It pulls in characters that are very unexpected, and has what I think is an extremely moving and very fulfilling culmination for Uatu the Watcher.”
For those who have been keeping up with the series, you’d know that season 2 ended with Captain Carter saving the multiverse from Strange Supreme and asking the Watcher to show her other worlds and timelines before returning to her home. For those doing a bit of theory crafting, this suggest that the writers are starting with an entirely clean slate for the series as a whole, that perhaps would not involve Carter anymore, and might be an entirely new cast of characters, save for the Watcher.
Hopefully this is the case, as it will allow the series finale to have the much-needed flexibility and motivation to create entirely new plotlines that we can follow along with. Until then, we’ll just have to wait and see when “What If…?” season 3 lands on Disney+.
Source: Entertainment Weekly, IMDb
