The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Nearly Lost a Key Marvel Character

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is just days away from premiering on Disney+, and there are plenty of interviews with cast and crew rolling out to get fans hyped for the six-episode MCU series, some of which have provided some very interesting behind-the-scenes information.

Marvel Studios is no stranger to being forced to make changes to its projects, whether it be on the release date side of things (as with the COVID-19 pandemic) or story and character elements of the projects themselves.

A new interview has revealed that this nearly happened with a certain element of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier...

CHARACTER CONCERNS

While speaking with SFX, head writer Malcolm Spellman explained how The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's creative team had to deal with gaining and losing various Marvel characters throughout the process of creating the show.

The MCU functions as a tapestry of connected elements, and it appears that some weren't able to fit into the show given the other projects they were present in. One of these was a huge deal for Spellman, as he said that "My favorite character in the series, we almost lost:"

"My favorite character in the series, we almost lost. And we did lose [them] for a little while. Then I don't know what Kevin, Nate, and Zoie worked out in the background, but that character came back."

In the same interview, director Kari Skogland discussed developing the dynamic between the show's two lead characters of Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, describing it as "writing a little bit in a vacuum:"

"We didn't know [Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan], so you're writing a little bit in a vacuum and hoping that you get it right. They are friends in real life, and seeing what their syntax was and how they played off each other, we could play into that, and that was very informing."

MAKING IT ALL WORK

Marvel Studios' projects operating as a connective universe is both a benefit and a drawback to creators. It allows characters to have longer journeys and more development, but it also means that all stories are ultimately required to serve a greater narrative.

Many people who have worked on Marvel projects have said they've been given plenty of freedom to tell the stories they want to, but in some cases, creative teams don't get to include everything they hope they would. Fortunately for Spellman, he got to have his favorite character in the show after all, though who it is has yet to be revealed.

In the case of Phase 4 projects, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected quite a few of them due to both restrictions and the order of project releases shifting multiple times. It was recently revealed that the WandaVision finale had to be altered after the pandemic hit, and the same may have gone for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The star-spangled series is rumored to have ties to projects such as the still-awaiting-release Black Widow, which was supposed to be the Phase 4 opener.

As for developing the series without knowing the lead actors, this has likely been the case for a lot of Marvel projects, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's team had the benefit of not only being able to see the characters in previous projects but also seeing the dynamic between Mackie and Stan via press interviews. It has been stated that this rapport helped shape the series, so it will be interesting to see which elements of the real-life friendship between the two are brought to the screen.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premieres on Disney+ March 19.