Jeffrey Wright shared his emotional reaction to What If…?‘s latest episode which saw Doctor Strange go down the dark magic rabbit hole.
What If…? debuted its darkest episode yesterday. The latest hypothetical Marvel adventure saw Stephen Strange getting into a car crash. Instead of losing the ability to use his hands as a surgeon, Christine Palmer dies. In a bid to get her back, the would-be Doctor Strange dives into dark magic to bring her back. Without getting too deep into spoilers, things begin to go awry, leading to one of the most devastating brutal endings the MCU has ever produced.
The episode notably featured a heavy role from Jeffrey Wright’s The Watcher, who serves as the omnipotent narrator for the series. The character reminds viewers each episode that he cannot interfere with the events unfolding, and in this episode, he comes face to face with Doctor Strange, telling him the exact same thing.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Jeffrey Wright opened up about how the episode emotionally “rocked” him and how Doctor Strange’s dilemma is a common one seen in our daily lives.
“Strange’s dilemma is such a timeless one. And when I saw this episode for the first time, I guess that timelessness was very timely for me. It just rocked me. It hit me pretty close to home. We all, at times, have tried to reverse circumstances and undo events, or at least we all, at times, have wished we were able to trace our steps backward and try to undo events that have not turned out as we might have desired they turned out the first time. The framing of that temptation for him was really well conceived of in this episode, and I just found myself sinking further and further into this hopelessly tragic abyss with Strange as it unfolded — for reasons that I won’t go into detail about.”
The What If…? star was then asked what he felt when he first read the script for the “dark” episode.
“I use the term dark differently than some. I just saw it as tragic. I don’t know if that’s dark, tragedy is something that we will all experience. There’s something deeply human and emotional about it for me. Yes, he’s tortured by this loss and desperate and full of hubris and lost, but for me it just seems so perfectly human. So I think I describe it more in those terms than it being dark. It’s just filled with pathos. And for that reason I really empathize with that journey. [Laughs] I found myself, like The Watcher, there with him.
The Watcher continues to be one of the most interesting characters the MCU has ever put on screen. This episode solidified The Watcher’s modus operandi and the sheer stoicism he must exhibit, even if it means watching over a world filled with turmoil.
Here is the synopsis for What If…?:
“Exploring pivotal moments from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and turning them on their head, leading the audience into uncharted territory.”
What If…? features the voices of Josh Brolin, Natalie Portman, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Paul Rudd, Mark Ruffalo, Chadwick Boseman, Jeffrey Wright, Hayley Atwell, and other major stars from the MCU.
The first four episodes of What If…? are available to stream on Disney Plus. Stay tuned for all the latest news on the series, Kevin Feige and the rest of the MCU’s Phase 4, and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content!
Source: Entertainment Weekly
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