VISION: Marvel Studios President Explains Why PICARD Showrunner Has Been Hired For WANDAVISION Sequel

VISION: Marvel Studios President Explains Why PICARD Showrunner Has Been Hired For WANDAVISION Sequel

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has shed new light on the decision to hire Star Trek: Picard season 3's Terry Matalas as Vision's showrunner. Unsurprisingly, Feige being a Trekkie may have helped...

By JoshWilding - Aug 01, 2024 12:08 AM EST
Filed Under: WandaVision
Source: Inverse

WandaVision has spawned more sequels than any other Disney+ TV series; the Scarlet Witch's story continued in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, while this September will see the release of Agatha All Along

Looking even further into the future, a new Vision TV series is taking shape which promises to pick up with the android after he was resurrected by S.W.O.R.D., albeit minus his emotions (the Hex Vision seemingly restored his memories, though). 

There's a story to be told there and, while Marvel Studios appears to have ditched the Vision Quest title, it's widely believed we'll see the Avenger create a new android family similar to Tom King's award-winning Vision comic book run. 

Talking to Inverse, Kevin Feige confirmed reports that Star Trek: Picard season 3's Terry Matalas has indeed been tapped as the Disney+ series' showrunner. 

"That’s how I got to know him," the Marvel Studios boss started. "It was from his amazing [work on Picard Season 3. I said: This is incredible. I don't know how this exists. Let me find the person who made this."

The show's third season received widespread critical acclaim and several awards. Feige is a well-known Trekkie and previously appeared with Matalas on a two-hour episode of the Star Trek podcast Inglorious Treksperts

It's going to be really interesting to see where Vision's story goes next, particularly with two more Avengers movies on the horizon. At this stage, it's hard to imagine there being room for Bettany in Doomsday and Secret Wars, and many Multiverse Saga projects will surely have to be released after those as 2026 fast approaches.

It's been a while since Bettany has said anything of substance about his MCU role, though he did confirm his return earlier this year when he said, "[After long pause] Well, yeah...I mean, why wouldn't I? Yes, 100%."

As for how he's approached the character over the years, the actor added, "My plan was that he's sort of an omnipotent ingénue when he's born. And then as he gets more and more sophisticated with the amount of data that he's receiving, he becomes more human."

"When you're doing robots or artificial people or whatever it is, I guess the two stories really are Pinocchio and Frankenstein. 'I'm a real boy now' or 'Who made me and what for?' I suppose are the stories. So we were definitely in the Pinocchio camp. And that's a really fun arc to play."

"And how did I make him human? I am one," Bettany concluded. "And they paint me purple and they put me in a robot suit. And I figure that stuff is taking care of and I just [focus] on the human stuff."

Stay tuned for updates on Vision as we have them.

VISION: James D'Arcy & Kerry Condon Rumored To Have Joined Cast As Edwin Jarvis & F.R.I.D.A.Y. In Human Form
Related:

VISION: James D'Arcy & Kerry Condon Rumored To Have Joined Cast As Edwin Jarvis & F.R.I.D.A.Y. In Human Form

RUMOR: Marvel Studios' SCARLET WITCH Plans Will See Wanda Maximoff Take Center Stage In The Mutant Saga
Recommended For You:

RUMOR: Marvel Studios' SCARLET WITCH Plans Will See Wanda Maximoff Take Center Stage In The Mutant Saga

DISCLAIMER: ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and... [MORE]

ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.

1 2
dracula
dracula - 7/31/2024, 2:56 PM
did season 3 have a different showrunner?
FinnishDude
FinnishDude - 7/31/2024, 3:01 PM
@dracula - The second season was co-showran by Kurtzman and Matalas, while Matalas ran season 3 by himself (or at least he had different partner than Kurtzman).
McMurdo
McMurdo - 7/31/2024, 3:31 PM
@dracula - season 2 was in development for months when Terry Matalas replaced Chabon. In season 3, it really became his baby. And the change in quality was drastic. All of a sudden it became actual Star Trek and felt like actual Star Trek. He killed it with Season 3. It was the best Trek id seen in well over a decade.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 7/31/2024, 5:04 PM
@dracula - Akiva was the main one I think season one and two, Matalas joined in season two however season three Goldsmith was gone and Terry was sole showrunner I think.

As such probably easiest to look at season one under Akiva Goldsmith and season three as Terry Matalas for a simplistic compare/contrast.

There was also a third showrunner Michael Chabon, who think wasn't involved in season three at all, not entirely clear myself on who was specificaly listed as show runner for each.

Trickier to lay blame or credit in the crossover of season two when also taking into account season two had like a dozen writers in total over the 10 episodes along with all three who are listed as having been showrunners at varying point. Esp when writing credit think Terry Matalas was only credited with writing two episodes as in the first one cowrote with Akiva, then second which had four writers inc Goldsman & Chabon.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 7/31/2024, 8:30 PM
@dracula - Did a further check on details

At the start back in 2018 after being Show Runner of Star Trek Discovery, Alex Kurtzman signed a five-year overall deal to expand TV for the franchice and Picard was part of that package so he started the ball rolling.

For Season one Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman were attached to the project but the show runner ended up being Michael Chabon, a novelist friend of Akiva's brought in early on to write the 35 page pitch to get Stewart onboard to return to the role.

Second season CBS brough in Terry as ExecProd at first to replace Chabon who they'd given a deal to for creating other new shows. The show runner job ended up joint between Akiva Goldsman and Terry Matalas but considering Akiva was there from the very start of development and Matalas brought in by the studio not the creatives I'd say Goldsman would have had majority power over the narrative and writing with Terry there more to assist and prep for season 3 but I could be wrong on that. Chabon was still contributing to the writing and retained an ExecProd role but less hands on.

Third season Matalas was sole show runner and far as I can tell little to no direct involvement with the story from Chabon, Akiva or Kurtzman.
TheRogue
TheRogue - 7/31/2024, 2:56 PM
Theres a vision series?
xfan320
xfan320 - 7/31/2024, 3:02 PM
Season 3 of Picard was like an entirely different show from the prior seasons in all the best ways possible.

I told all my trek friends Terry Matalas is like the Dave Filoni of Star Trek. I'm sad he seems to be leaving trek for now, but I'm a HUGE Terry Matalas supporter and can't wait to see what he does with the Vision in the MCU.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 7/31/2024, 4:45 PM
@xfan320 - he saved something that Kurtzman and Abrams have been trying to destroy for almost a decade lol he's the best!
harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 7/31/2024, 3:03 PM
marvel lacks VISION
User Comment Image
blitzkreg
blitzkreg - 7/31/2024, 3:08 PM
PICARD SEASON 3 WAS EXCELLENT ! GREAT WRITING. tHE FIRST 2 SEASONS SUCKED BALLS.
EgoEgor
EgoEgor - 7/31/2024, 7:34 PM
@blitzkreg - User Comment Image

Haven't seen season 3, but after watching season 1 and parts of season 2, they lost me.
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 7/31/2024, 10:45 PM
@EgoEgor - It's a significant improvement, The showrunner got sloppy and accidently hired a guy who respected the original TNG series. If you're a fan of the original series don't bother with 1 or 2 but 3 is a least worth a look.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 8/1/2024, 6:03 AM
@EgoEgor - I would say you could probably watch season 3 without having watched the prior two seasons TBH and is peak Trek.

Isn't JUST a case of better than the prior two seasons, I'd put a case forward for saying it is up there as a contender for best season of any show of Star Trek ever. Even the best of TNG and DS9 for instance had episodes in them that were far weaker than season three's weakest for me and IMDB has them all being 8.2's or higher with the finale on 9.4/10.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 7/31/2024, 3:25 PM
Avengers: Doomsday is May 2026.

If the Sacred Timeline as we know it ends, to become Battleworld and then be rebooted, wouldn't it impede any decent attempt at rebooting successfully to keep making sequels to things from the first two Sagas?
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 7/31/2024, 5:20 PM
@ObserverIO - that's assuming the Sacred Timelime will be rebooted, which I doubt is gonna happen. No way they're flushing 20 years of hard work and unique history down the drain.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 7/31/2024, 6:42 PM
@bkmeijer1 - Likely just a soft reboot if anything, as in history won't all be flushed away but some of it may become more loose canon due to changes when the universe is restored or merged with another timeline (but the characters will likely all recall the original sacred timeline even if most of humanity is unaware anything changed).

CreateNowSlpL8r
CreateNowSlpL8r - 7/31/2024, 11:44 PM
@bkmeijer1 - I think they will rest the Avengers after SW. They really dont have any heroes that can carry they own movies. They will concentrate on the X-men. By the time you see a proper Avengers movie, everyone who matters will be recast. If FF doesn't bomb, that will get sequels too. The only one talking about a Shang Chi sequel is Simu. Im surprised they had no updates beyond Cap, TB, FF and the Avengers. No mention of Strange 3, Spidey 4, etc. I think everything not announced is now up in the air.

They haven't even sent Ironheart out to die yet. That thing has been done for 2 years.

bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 8/1/2024, 1:33 AM
@CreateNowSlpL8r @Apophis71 - I don't think they'll recast some roles either. The Avengers (whatever remains) can just take a back seat.

The way I see it happening is the Sacred Timeline history will remain, with some alternate universe characters dropped in (FF, Deadpool, etc).
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 8/1/2024, 3:38 AM
@bkmeijer1 - For sure, I don't expect, for instance, Steve and Tony back and don't for me need to as they shift focus more to mutants and F4, as you say Avengers can take a backseat and work with what remains sans any recasting outside of mutants.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 8/1/2024, 4:07 AM
@Apophis71 - oh yeah, they won't be back. The one Avengers I could see return, is T'Challa. They can easily pull a recasted version from the multiverse.

As for the rest, a dozen or so at best will be around at the end of Phase 7. And that's more than enough for an Avengers movie.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 8/1/2024, 5:07 AM
@bkmeijer1 - Think it could be a huge mistake to softboot everything. When they do this in comics it just ends up making a bigger mess.

Some things could be softbooted like Black Panther (since they set us up with a second T'Challa, the older cast can return, but the first two movies wouldn't be hard canon).

But Wandavision can't be softbooted because it owes too much to Endgame which is made up of everything else from The Infinity Saga. It's just a big mess if they softboot things like that. Better to hard reboot those elements and just softboot things like Shang Chi and some of the newer stuf that isn't too connected to everything else.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 8/1/2024, 5:12 AM
Weirdly enough Spider-Man is in a good place to be softbooted after No Way Home, but with Tom Holland getting more and more expensive with every appearance it might just be better to reboot Spidey for a third time (I think people are just used to seeing Spidey rebooted at this point, thanks to NWH and the Spiderverse movies).
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 8/1/2024, 5:17 AM
@ObserverIO - that's why I don't think they'll reboot at all. If they just take half of the history with them to the new universe, it ends up being confusing.

Like with any stunt they've pulled, Marvel goes for the easiest solutions.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 8/1/2024, 4:15 PM
@bkmeijer1 - I guess they've got three options.

1. No Reboot(= big mess)

2. Softboot (= bigger mess)

3. Hard reboot (= clean)
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 8/1/2024, 4:55 PM
@ObserverIO - but the problem with 3 is whether they want to go through the whole universe building process again.

They could skip origins and majors events, but that means they have to reference it in another way. And that quickly gets unclean as well.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 8/2/2024, 6:19 AM
@bkmeijer1 - Once we've got mutants, there's a shorthand for superpowers. Whether they're born that way or mutate when bitten by a radioactive spider or caught in a gamma explosion, it would be a key part of the universe that there is a gene in humans that can cause superpowers.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 8/2/2024, 6:31 AM
@ObserverIO - so mutants and mutates? They should keep it simple like that imo. No need for Inhumans and such
LSHF
LSHF - 7/31/2024, 3:36 PM
I'm glad they are still working on his series.
Order66
Order66 - 7/31/2024, 3:37 PM
Kinda looking forward to this reboot after secret wars. Not saying that I want a reboot to happen I’m just saying it will be awesome to see Avengers, X-Men and FF all exist in one universe.
Twenty23Three
Twenty23Three - 7/31/2024, 3:45 PM
People always talk about how no one in the MCU acknowledge the celestial sticking out the earth. I want to know why every single hero isn’t concerned about a rogue Vision that they know nothing about. An indestructible robot with a mind created by an evil witch? That’s a huge problem haha
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 7/31/2024, 5:22 PM
@Twenty23Three - never thought about it that way, but you're right. We know he had an existential philosophical crisis, but there were no witnesses within the MCU. As far as they are concerned, he's a rogue killer robot.
Twenty23Three
Twenty23Three - 7/31/2024, 7:07 PM
@bkmeijer1 - its essentially Ultron in his final form for all anyone knows. Haha
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 8/1/2024, 1:53 AM
@Twenty23Three - as long as he doesn't replicate, it should be fine I guess
Batmangina
Batmangina - 7/31/2024, 3:51 PM
If there is anything in the last 10 years that proves it IS possible to pull a flaming bag of dog shit from the Mouth of Hell and make it palatable, it's PICARD S3.

You have my sword.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 7/31/2024, 3:55 PM
Cool though not surprising since Feige is a huge Trekkie.

I haven’t seen Picard (though I know the first 2 seasons atleast were divisive) but I am familiar with Matalas’s work from being a creator/showrunner of the “12 Monkeys” tv series which was very good from what I’ve seen…

?si=60xKP2tkpVpKw24q

The show delved into philosophical themes which is extremely apt for Vision , especially this version that is finding new purpose in life.

Looking forward to it!!
TheManWithoutFear
TheManWithoutFear - 7/31/2024, 4:08 PM
Matalas did 12 Monkeys first which was a [frick]ing blast. This is my most anticipated TV project now cause of him. I hope we get Todd Stashwick, Amanda Schull of my favourite Emily Hampshire involved.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 7/31/2024, 4:44 PM
@TheManWithoutFear - he's about to be everywhere and I'm here for it lol
JonC
JonC - 7/31/2024, 4:27 PM
but how powerful will be he without the mind stone? will he get a power boost from the adamantium in celestial island... fans want to know... Vision is supposed to be super powerful so i hope they don't sell him short in the future.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 7/31/2024, 4:43 PM
As a lifelong Star Trek fan, Season 3 was amazing. Season one and two was absolutely abominable. Matalas gave us a beautiful swan song for the TNG crew and told some actual [frick]ing Star Trek stories for once. I hate Discovery, I hate Picard season one and two. The rest of new Trek is pretty great. Terry Matalas is top notch and they're lucky to have him. Now hopefully they start treating their shows like actual TV shows and the showrunner more than a glorified producer.
HistoryofMatt
HistoryofMatt - 7/31/2024, 4:50 PM
Matalas's work on Picard Season 3 was fantastic, even though the Titan should never have been renamed, and if it was, it should have been named the Picard, not the Enterprise-G. Just a personal nitpick for me.

Still though, Paramount can sick a bag of dicks for not giving Star Trek to Terry Matalas after the amazing work he did and instead deciding to continue to go down the craphole with Kurtzman, who has destroyed Trek even worse than JJ did.
1 2

Please log in to post comments.

Don't have an account?
Please Register.

View Recorder