Falcon and Winter Soldier: Showrunner Plays Coy on War Machine's Role In Upcoming Episodes

Only two of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's six episodes have been released so far, but there have already been lots of twists, turns, and surprises for viewers. Many new characters are making their MCU debut in this series, but a couple of old favorites have popped in as well.

A scene in the premiere featured Don Cheadle's James "Rhodey" Rhodes. While fans didn't get to see him suit up as War Machine and fight alongside one or both of the show's leads, Rhodey did have a very important conversation with Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson about the latter's decision to give up the Captain America shield that Steve Rogers passed on to him in Avengers: Endgame.

WILL RHODEY RETURN?

Marvel

In an interview with NME, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's head writer, Malcom Spellman, was asked what it was like writing the scene between Sam and Rhodey, as well as whether the latter would appear again in the series. He definitively replied "I cannot talk about Rhodey showing up [again]" but did dig into his thoughts on the scene.

"We knew there were just certain moments that you know the people are gonna respond to, and you know what I mean. You know, like Black folk in particular are gonna be like - it's just gonna be a shorthand with the fans there, and that was one of the things we all asked for in our writers' room - [which] was mostly Black - was to have that moment, because we imagine Sam and Rhodey are the ones dealing with getting pulled over. Sam and Rhodey are the ones dealing with security following them when they're going shopping, right? We assumed that in between all these movies, [they] probably called each other all the time, you know what I'm saying? And the way [Mackie and Cheadle] played it, you could feel it [...] It just surpassed what we imagined."

AN IMPORTANT SCENE

The only Marvel project with a predominantly black cast and crew thus far has been Black Panther, so a desire for more scenes between Black characters makes sense and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has proven to be a great opportunity to include them given that Sam Wilson is one of its main characters.

Whether or not fans will get to see Rhodey again before the series is over remains a mystery, but him telling Sam to call if he needs him may prove to be noteworthy. (Maybe Rhodey will be called in to help in a fight?)

Even if Rhodey doesn't come back for another appearance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he'll soon get his time in the spotlight via the upcoming Armor Wars series on Disney+.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's first two episodes are available to stream on Disney+.