What If…? season 2 potential release date, cast, plot and everything you need to know
What If...? spoilers follow.
Marvel's What If...? is coming back for season 2...!
Based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, the animated show explores alternate realities in the multiverse that show what would happen if major moments from the MCU films occurred differently.
What If...? had a successful first season when it debuted on Disney+ back in August 2021, exploring alternate timelines including a Star-Lord T'Challa, Captain Carter, Doctor Strange Supreme and ultimate Ultron.
In the season one finale, The Watcher declared: "You thought the story was over…but it was only just the beginning." But the beginning of what?
Here's everything you need to know about season two.
What If...? season 2 potential release date: When will it air?
While an official release date is yet to be announced, it was revealed at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2022 that the new season will arrive on Disney+ in early 2023 and consist of nine episodes.
Given it's now 2023, you can expect to see it on your screens very soon.
Just announced at #SDCC2022:
Marvel Studios’ What If…? Season 2, an Original series, streaming early 2023 on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/ajOYCWccm6— What If...? (@whatifofficial) July 22, 2022
But wait! That's not all. It was also confirmed that a third season is already in development, so fans can be rest assured they'll continue to see how this multiverse plays out.
Season three was presumably confirmed early because the writing team had too many ideas to fit into season two.
"It was a process, but it was pretty amazing coming up with them all once we got our head writer involved," director Bryan Andrews said (via CBR). "She brought in one of her partners, Matt [Chauncey], so it was AC [Bradley] and Matt and then [executive producer] Brad [Winderbaum] and myself, and we would sit and just spitball. And we just got an embarrassment of riches. We got so many episode ideas, and Kevin [Feige] was like, 'Just gimme a list of like 30.' And then Kevin couldn’t even whittle it down."
"I think it ended up being 14, and we had to kill the last few to try to get it down to the actual number. "But funnily enough, there were ideas that just kept staying around, so a couple of those ideas make it into season two, and then there's a few that might be showing up in season three. So many good ideas, so many fun ideas, some that were just way too crazy. They're just like, 'We're not ready for that yet.' So I think that’s why in season three, we'll see some of the crazy stuff that we were pitching out of the gate."
What If...? season 2 cast: Who’s returning?
The Watcher, voiced by Jeffrey Wright, will definitely be back for season two to narrate some more multiverse-bending stories. But who will be joining him?
Nothing's been confirmed yet, but we'd hope to see – or rather hear – all the same actors from season one reprising their respective roles. That's:
• Hayley Atwell as Captain Carter
• Josh Keaton as Steve Rogers
• Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury
• Lake Bell as Natasha Romanoff
• Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes
• Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff
• Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff
• Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner
• Mick Wingert as Tony Stark
• Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster
• Taika Waititi as Korg
• Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange
• Kurt Russell as Ego
• Josh Brolin as Thanos
• Michael Rooker as Yondu
• Chris Hemsworth as Thor
• Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton
• Michael Douglas as Ant-Man
• Evangeline Lily as Hope
Cynthia McWilliams will also be back voicing Gamora, who briefly popped up in the season one finale.
Explaining the character's limited role in season one, head writer AC Bradley told Variety: "Basically what happened was we originally had an episode planned for earlier in the season that was a fun, light-hearted, living, breathing Tony Stark-centric episode with Gamora.
"However, due to the COVID pandemic, one of our animation houses was hit incredibly hard, and the episode needed to be pushed into season two, because it would not be finished in time."
Chadwick Boseman, of course, sadly won't be back for season two following his sad death in 2020. His role in season one marked the late actor's final MCU appearance.
What If...? season 2 plot: What will happen?
An official plot synopsis for season two hasn't been released yet, but AC Bradley did give fans a little insight into what they can expect while speaking with Entertainment Weekly.
"Going into the second season, we're sticking with anthology form, and it's going to be all-new stories, lots of fun, new heroes, and pulling more from Phase Four than we were obviously able to this season," Bradley explained.
"Hopefully, we'll see hints of Eternals and Shang-Chi and the Black Widow characters. The fun of What If...? is that we get to explore the entire infinite multiverse, so we try and bounce around as much as we can. I want to play with all these characters, and as much as I love Captain Carter, we've got to share the love. I'm very excited to show new worlds, new heroes."
This means that season two will mostly avoid the big "let's end the world, let's kill everyone" arcs in favour of "more on the character stories and these heroes and showing a different side of them that people don't expect and hopefully they can relate to".
Bryan Andrews also teased that What If...? will only get "wilder" and "wackier" from here on out thanks to the expanse of the MCU.
"Obviously [there will be] more unique stories that slowly get a little bit wilder," Andrews told Deadline. "The first season Kevin wanted to keep it a little bit closer to the vest, have a little thing that was different and that little thing made these things different, but still tied very much to either a moment in the movies or a particular film itself.
"Now there's more films and things to pull from, so we don't have to have just a tiny moment. We can expand out and things can get a little bit wackier. We take it up a notch in season two and then in season three we just go even wackier."
If you're looking for some more information about how the What If...? season one finale and credits scene set up season two (and the MCU's future), you can read all about it in our in-depth explainer here.
What If...? season 2 trailer: When will it arrive?
Sorry, folks. No trailer yet. But considering season two is scheduled for early 2023, the trailer is probably on the way and you can watch it here first as soon as it arrives.
What If…? season 2 is set to premiere on Disney+ in early 2023.
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