We finally have photographic proof that Ms. Marvel (working title Jersey) has finally begun filming in Atlanta, Georgia.
Just Jared has posted a batch of first-look set photos from the Atlanta set from filming on Wednesday revealing Canadian actress Iman Vellani in character as Ms. Marvel aka Kamala Khan wearing what looks to be a Halloween costume of Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel.
Kamala Khan is a practicing Muslim Pakistani-American teenager living in New Jersey, who is a massive fan of Captain Marvel and develops her own superpowers (canonically is group of The Inhumans) then adopting the name Ms. Marvel (Carol’s original superhero name in the comics).
The series showrun by Bisha K. Ali has a group of directors that include Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah, Meera Menon, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
There is a strong possibility that Kamala could have involvement with Captain Marvel 2 and maybe even the Nick Fury series if it involves S.W.O.R.D. Ms. Marvel is also part of the New Avengers/Young Avengers making her an important character to the future of Marvel Cinematic Universe. It remains to be seen if Brie Larson will show up in Ms. Marvel even for a cameo.
There is an expectation that Ms. Marvel will be ready to begin airing on Disney+ in late 2021.
Capping-off Deadline’s debunking last week of the fan rumor that Katee Sackhoff and Gina Carano would be co-starring in a spinoff series from The Mandalorian with the pair reprising their roles of Bo-Katan and Cara Dune.
Katee is now flat-out denying it’s existence as well during an interview with the outlet stating the following.
SACKHOFF: “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, that’s legitimately the truth.”
She added what makes the character interesting to her.
SACKHOFF: “She’s a warrior and she has struggled tremendously with being a leader. For her, I think there is a struggle and a story about who she becomes in peace, if that were to ever be accomplished and what kind of ruler she would be. She’s never really, that we’ve seen, gotten that opportunity, and whether or not she’s ready for that. Just because she thinks it’s her rightful place, doesn’t mean she’s ready or equipped to rule Mandalore.
While speaking with Entertainment Tonight she hinted Bo-Katan important part of The Mandalorian.
SACKOFF: “She’s been such a pivotal character in this world and she’s so important to this story in The Mandalorian and where it’s going.”
Yesterday, actress Jaimie Alexander seemingly revealed on her Instagram account that she was heading to Atlanta, Georgia for work reasons without stating what the project is. There is a genuine possibility she could be reprising the Sif role in Marvel’s Loki series but that remains speculation for the time being. The Sif character has been in limbo concerning the MCU since Thor: The Dark World and potentially escaped being killed by Hela in Thor: Ragnaork due to scheduling issues with her series Blindspot.
Marvel Studios has previously confirmed that Loki still has 4-5 weeks of filming before wrapping-up which is likely why people are leaning towards Jaimie potentially flying in to work on the Disney+ series. However, given how many things are filming in Atlanta it could be non-Marvel work as well.
Back in October, she posted an image of herself from Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. which had people buzzing about her getting ready to bring Sif back in some shape or form. Many making the leap it could be for Thor: Love & Thunder but it’s more likely it could for Loki if there is a return at all.
There had been rumblings that Season 2 of Loki could also be starting-up in the new year but Marvel/Disney hasn’t even confirmed that is even happening, while we’ve known for a while that Loki was going to get multiple seasons.
We’ll have to place this one in the speculation folder for the time being.
Take the following with a pinch of salt but there is seemingly some evidence on who British actor Richard E. Grant could be playing in the upcoming Loki series from Marvel Studios.
A stuntman working on Loki listed on IMDB (spotted by Murphy’s Multiverse) that he was doubling for “Richard E. Grant – Classic Loki“, however, it’s worth noting that “Classic Loki” could also be referring to Tom Hiddleston’s Loki as stunt people are known to double multiple people as Richard and Tom are sort of the same build. It’s also believable that Grant could be playing an older version of Loki as well given his track record at playing villains as most recently established in Logan and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
The listing has since been removed from IMDB but it’s certainly interesting to consider.
We already know that the series will involve The Multiverse and The Time Variance Authority, but how many different Loki incarnations in the show will show up is extremely unclear and a number hasn’t been confirmed beyond that British actress Sophia Di Martino is playing Lady Loki revealed via set photos of her in the Loki costume.
The series takes place after the events of Avengers: Endgame where Loki escapes with the Tesseract and seemingly time travels getting the notice of TVA, as the first look footage from the series showed the God of Mischief in their custody but in set photos was working alongside Owen Wilson’s character.
Marvel Studios’ Victoria Alonso confirmed that Loki has another 4-5 weeks left of filming but we haven’t seen too many set pictures recently. All signs are pointing that it’s Disney+ debut in 2021 is still on track and I’m sure fans are excited to get some new footage.
Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley recently spoke with IGN to help promote her upcoming action film Chaos Walking, co-starring Tom Holland, revealing that she isn’t terribly keen on reprising Rey Skywalker in either future films or a streaming series. Suggesting they pretty much left her in a good place at the end Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Daisy seems happy with how it all ended.
RIDLEY: “I think for me the beauty of Episode IX is it ends with such hope and such potential. I just feel like that was Rey’s perfect ending. The big battle was in Episodes VII, VIII, and IX. I think really she’s probably running around the forest somewhere having a great time [following the events of The Rise of Skywalker].”
“I feel totally, totally satisfied with how that story finished. I just don’t know what else she could do that I didn’t have to do. Also, there are so many amazing characters in Star Wars, that it’s sort of an amazing thing. I was watching the new episode of Mandalorian, and it’s just like the places it can go beyond even where it is now is so exciting.”
Considering the brutal harassment Ridley got from “fans” alongside co-stars John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran it’s no wonder that she’d rather just move on with her acting career. It’s also worth mentioning that Lucasfilm hasn’t given any signs they even want to continue the Rey Skywalker Saga in live-action form anytime soon. Instead, they seem to be focusing on television for the moment with brand new films on the horizon that most likely will move away from the Skywalker timeline altogether.
John Boyega has given less fluffy answers on the topic of a potential return to the franchise feeling like Finn was mistreated in the subsequent films and dismissing the idea of reprising the character for a live-action series on Disney+ which is understandable.
Despite fan wishes and rumblings that Marvel Studios was going to resurrect the Netflix lineup of Marvel shows for Hulu/Disney+, that doesn’t seem to be happening as Marvel Television was re-branded as Marvel TV Studios with Kevin Feige overseeing future television projects after Jeph Loeb exited the company.
This hasn’t detoured The Punisher actor Jon Bernthal and has been vocal about reprising the Frank Castle role if Marvel wants him to. This is reinforced in a new interview with Geek House Show (via The Playlist). As great as Jon’s enthusiasm is, as he points out himself he’s not part of those decisions.
BERNTHAL: “I think with that, there’s always hope, you know? It’s unbelievably humbling how much people responded to this version of Frank. I can’t tell you how much he means to me. He’s in my blood. He’s in my bones. And for me, it’s not really a question ever with this kind of stuff about whether you get the opportunity to do it or not…It’s not about whether we do it, it’s about doing it right. And doing the version the fans really deserve.”
“We’ll see. All of those decisions are made in rooms I’m not invited into. That’s okay with me…When we get the call to go, I’ll be ready. And I’ll do everything I can to make sure we do it right or we don’t do it at all.”
The actor first played Frank Castle in Season 2 of Daredevil before getting his own solo Punisher series that landed two seasons itself before it was cancelled.
Jon Bernthal sounds more optimistic than Daredevil’s Charlie Cox, who said he wasn’t even expecting the series to get a Season 3 despite the online fan campaign #SaveDaredevil and poured cold water on the rumor he was going to be involved with Spider-Man 3.
We ultimately don’t know what Kevin’s plans are for characters like Frank Castle, Matt Murdock, Elektra Natchios, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Danny Rand (despite Iron Fist connections rumored for Shang-Chi). Also, if he wants to bring them into the real Marvel Cinematic Universe I’m unconvinced he’ll even ask those actors to return to their roles or attempt soft-reboots with new actors instead. Even if characters are slowly reverting back to Marvel from Netflix the contracts for actors and showrunners (many have found new gigs) have expired, meaning that Marvel TV Studios has zero obligations anymore.
Fiege didn’t seem terribly interested in continuing the Loeb era of Marvel Television projects as reflected with the cancellations and it doesn’t look like those projects will find new lives elsewhere. It might also irk Disney to have off-shoots on places like Netflix and rebooting might be a way to sever any ties to those Netflix shows or being branded as “MCU”.
However, speaking of Spider-Man 3, Jamie Foxx is seeming getting a second shot at playing Electro in what is likely going to be an MCU take on the character not unlike J.K. Simmon’s new version of J. Jonah Jameson first seen in Spider-Man: Far From Home. There is a chance they could bring Cox and Bernthal back but ignore the events of the Netflix shows entirely given that Feige and the producing team didn’t have oversight on that material which would suggest they’re more likely to just jettison it.
There has been zero sign from Marvel that they’re even interested in using those characters anytime soon, so we’ll just have to be patient.
Last Friday, Star Wars fans finally got to see the live-action version of Bo-Katan played by voice actress Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) and it seemed to be setting up the character for bigger things given her connection to the Darksaber that is currently in the hands of Moff Gideon. Not to mention her own journey could be explored further.
Katee stat down with Entertainment Tonight (via The Playlist) for her first interview about The Mandalorian and revealed that Bo-Katan is expected to be important to the future of the series.
SACKOFF: “She’s been such a pivotal character in this world and she’s so important to this story in The Mandalorian and where it’s going.”
Although, she seems to allude that she won’t have scenes with Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano or even confirm that casting. Tano is the next person that Mando will have to track down in upcoming episodes. But this could be something to through people off the scent of what’s to come.
SACKHOFF: “I’ve never met Rosario [Dawson], so I don’t know anything about [her role]. I love the character from Clone Wars and Rebels, so I’d love to see [Ahsoka].”
Katee points out she isn’t into spoil things for the fans and likely isn’t looking to ruin things for people.
Not to say anything is sure but it’s possible that the series could be handed-off to a new leading Mandalorian character like Bo-Katan either getting her own spinoff (a rumor that was debunked by Deadline) or taking the lead role from Din Djarin in future seasons of The Mandolarian.
Katee can’t confirm spinoff plans but says she would be interested in continuing the character as long as they want her.
SACKHOFF: “That’s what is so great about the Star Wars Universe there are so many stories…I have no idea but I would love to play this character as long as she has a story.”
I guess we’ll have to wait and see how much more Bo-Katan we’ll be getting in Season 2.
When asked by Clarin the production status of their upcoming Marvel series in a recent interview, Marvel Studios executive vice president Victoria Alonso confirms that both WandaVision and The Falcon & The Winter Soldier have indeed wrapped filming.
However, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki series has about four to five weeks left of shooting before they are finished.
ALONSO: “We finished filming The Falcon… and WandaVision , because it is almost, almost, almost finished. Loki (with Tom Hiddleston) still have four or five weeks to go.”
Loki has resumed filming in Atlanta, Georgia and potentially could be all wrapped-up by end of the year depending if they’ll take breaks for the American holidays.
While WandaVision (January 15th) and The Falcon have been delayed until 2021, the Loki series was always planned to drop next year and likely won’t be pushed too far down the road because of the production delays caused by COVID-19. Disney+ has yet to give the Marvel series an official debut date.
Unconfirmed but possible rumblings have suggested that Loki will jump straight into Season 2 next year but this has yet to be announced by Marvel Studios, as the only series they’ve officially confirmed has a second season will be What If…?, an animated anthology show inspired by the comics of the same name.
There is an expectation that the Loki series will inform the plots of Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love & Thunder, and possibly even Ant-Man 3 given it will explore The Multiverse via The Time Variance Authority.
The mystery of WandaVision’s release date has been finally solved!
While there was an expectation back in August that they would be able to begin airing episodes before the end of 2020, that isn’t the case. Disney has officially announced on social media that the series will begin airing on Disney+ starting on January 15th.
Many fans had tried to convince themselves that WandaVision could be ready before December but that obviously wasn’t realistic given that production delays due to COVID-19 has seemingly impacted multiple Marvel Studios even the film slate.
Back in August, in The Ronin’s report on the delay of The Falcon & The Winter Soldier to sometime in 2021 there had been an expectation that WandaVision was much further along in the production/post-production process and could have been ready in late 2020.
Fans will really need to dig deep down to find their patience because targeted release dates are written in sand and not stone. We’ll likely see many more delays and shifts throughout 2021 as situations are influx leading to date changes/production pauses.
This news would confirm that 2020 will be the first year without new MCU projects in a long time.
Other live-action series officially on the way include Loki, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and Hawkeye.
WANDAVISION – Marvel Studios’ WandaVision blends the style of classic sitcoms with the Marvel Cinematic Universe in which Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany)—two super-powered beings living their ideal suburban lives—begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems.
In a brief production update from Discussing Film, they mention that Marvel’s Moon Knight series will be shooting Budapest, Hungary and that they’ve added production designer Stefania Cella (Morbius).
Moon Knight, aka Marc Spector, a mercenary who has numerous alter egos — cabbie Jake Lockley and millionaire playboy Steven Grant — in order to better fight the criminal underworld. But later he was established as being a conduit for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Most recently, the character was a consultant who dresses in all-white and goes by the name Mr. Knight.
The Ronin can independently confirm from our own sources that Budapest is indeed one of multiple locations being used for Moon Knight (working title Good Faith). A shoot in United Kingdom had been previously revealed last year along with an expectation before the pandemic of possibly shooting in the United States and Morocco (used for Black Widow) but those plans have yet to be made concrete.
Budapest is a popular production locale which has been used for Marvel’s Black Widow, Showtime’s Halo series, Blade Runner 2049, Legendary’s Dune remake, The Martian, Red Sparrow, Terminator: Dark Fate, Bloodshot, Gemini Man, Midsommar, and the first season of Netflix’s The Witcher.
Stefania Cella also posted on her website that she has officially joined Moon Knight as production designer working on the pilot and the series. Her film credits include Morbius, Downsizing, White Boy Rick, Lucy In The Sky, and Black Mass.
Oscar Isaac is reportedly in negotiations to play the role of Marc Spector aka Moon Knight, although, neither Disney nor Marvel has made an official announcement.
Egyptian director Mohamed Diab had been recently announced for the series.
Lost of casting is underway and there should be announcements via trades in the coming weeks.
THE RONIN 