The struggle to rope in Marvel actors for ‘What If…?’

What If…? is the next Marvel show set to premiere on Disney+, and fans are ecstatic to see what it is all about. In the aftermath of the Loki season 1 finale, there’s been a lot of chatter about the Marvel multiverse, and What If…? will explore it thoroughly. Check out the trailer below:

The series is going to show us what life is like in other universes. What if T’Challa became Star-Lord, rather that Peter Quill? What if Peggy Carter became Captain America rather than Steve Rogers? What If…? will look at all this and much more.

According to executive producer Brad Winderbaum, all of this is canon and will be important to the Marvel Cinematic Universe going forward. Considering how off-the-wall the premise is, who knows where the MCU will be by the end of the show?

What Marvel stars are in What If…?

Co-creator Bryan Andrews addressed this very inquiry while speaking to Uproxx, likening the casting process to “herding cats.” Of course the team wanted to bring on as many Marvel actors as possible to reprise their roles, but it was easier said than done. “All of these people are extremely talented and they’ve got a lot of stuff going on,” Andrews explained. “We figured we probably wouldn’t be able to get everybody – but we got a lot, and that was great.”

"So yeah, it’d be awesome to have everybody, but you’ve got to deal with what you’ve got to deal with. And if someone’s too busy and they can’t make it, it’s a bummer."

Luckily, the series did manage to get some excellent Marvel talent, including the late Chadwick Boseman, who will once again voice T’Challa, who in this reality is Star-Lord. Other MCU veterans crossing over include Josh Brolin, Karen Gillan, Chris Hemsworth, Michael Douglas, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael B. Jordan, Natalie Portman and more.

What Marvel stars aren’t in What If…?

But not all Marvel stars were even asked to join What If…? including Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista, aka Drax the Destroyer. On Twitter, Bautista said he was never even asked:

Marvel hasn’t reacted to Baustista’s comment, but it does raise a few eyebrows. Was Bautista one cat that got away from the herd? Curiouser and curiouser.

There are many other stars that are not a part of the What If…? cast, including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Brie Larson, Tom Holland, Scarlett Johansson, Zoe Saldana, Elizabeth Olsen and Gwyneth Paltrow. Of course, this doesn’t have to mean there’s drama there. It could be scheduling conflicts or some other innocuous reason.

But there might be drama. For instance, Downey Jr. apparently unfollowed his fellow Marvel costars on Instagram recently and changed his Iron Man profile picture. Is there drama afoot or does it mean nothing? Not sure if we’ll find out any time soon, or ever, but it’s interesting to note given the large swath of stars missing from What If…?

In any case, for anyone that is worried about how this will affect the upcoming anthology series, Andrews says there isn’t any cause for concern. “We pivot and we get someone in that can rally and play to the spirit of that character. Not necessarily do an impression, but at least try to embody that and then make it a little bit their own, but hopefully not bug the audience too much.”

And if that isn’t enough to calm our anxious hearts, we have the voice of Westworld’s Jeffrey Wright narrating the story as Uatu the Watcher. So it’s not all bad news, and early reviews have already been raving about the series!

What If…? premieres on Disney+ on August 11, 2021.

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h/t Digital Spy