Summary
- Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige draws inspiration for the Vision series showrunner from Star Trek: Picard.
- Feige is impressed by Terry Matalas' work on Picard Season 3, leading to his choice for the Vision series.
- Despite potential impact concerns, Vision is set for a 2026 release on Disney+.
While the upcoming Disney+ show Vision features an established hero from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is a spinoff of another MCU show, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige confirms that the show’s choice of showrunner takes inspiration from another franchise.
Wandavision was the first proper Disney+-era project for the MCU and was one of the more successful projects on streamer thanks to the novelty of a small-screen project that tied into previous MCU plotlines and even led into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. While Elizabeth Olsen’s return as Wanda and Katherine Hahn’s standout performance as Agatha Harkness were the central focus of the narrative, fan-favorite Paul Bettany’s reprisal of his role from the Avengers films was also very well received, and fans were excited when it was revealed that a Vision Series featuring Bettany was in the works for Disney Plus.
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While at the time it was clear that the MCU’s Vision series could be the perfect follow-up to WandaVision, the hand at the wheel for the project comes from much further afield. In an in-depth interview with Inverse, Feige admitted that his choice of Terry Matalas as the showrunner for Vision was inspired by his admiration of Star Trek: Picard’s third season, which Matalas was responsible for. “That’s how I got to know him,” Feige revealed during the interview. “It was from his amazing [work on Picard Season 3. I said: This is incredible. I don't know how this exists. Let me find the person who made this.” Feige has been an avid Star Trek fan for ages and has previously confirmed that many MCU projects draw inspiration from his love of that franchise, making this just another step in a long-maintained direction.
It’s not clear what vision Matalas has for Vision’s storyline, but it’s unlikely it’ll be anything drawn directly from Star Trek: Picard. His attachment to the project has far more to do with the effect that his sole control over the third season of Picard (which was set up to be filmed alongside the second season due to scheduling) had on public perception of the show. While the series had been well received in some quarters, there was a noticeable contingent of fans that didn’t seem interested in the show on the whole, especially after the second season went live. However, the third season was a standout even with those that had been critical of the earlier seasons, with season three boasting an impressive 97% critic score and 89% among audiences, far outstripping the two prior seasons’ audience scores of 52% and 30% respectively.
While the creative choice is good news for the series, there should be some concern that it might be too late for the MCU's Vision series to really have an impact on the viewing audience. Agatha All Along, another WandaVision spinoff series that is much closer to release, has been derided as the MCU’s most unnecessary project in large part due to the amount of time that’s elapsed between the conclusion of WandaVision in 2021 and its late 2024 release. While Vision gets a lot more consideration as a member of the Avengers and a fan-favorite predating WandaVision, the currently scheduled 2026 release date would mark a half-decade wait for the character’s solo outing. With the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness already done and passed and the newly reworked Avengers: Doomsday slated for an early 2026 release, how the Vision series can even stay relevant to the MCU’s current state of affairs if it’s related to WandaVision remains a mystery.
While Star Trek might be stellar inspiration for the series, the recent return of Robert Downey Jr. Means that Marvel is also borrowing from Doctor Who, and that should be concerning as that franchise has similarly seen a downturn in popularity and fan confusion due to its return to past stars. How this will affect the MCU ahead of Vision's 2026 release remains to be seen.
Vision is currently set for release on Disney+ sometime in 2026.
WandaVision
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2021 - 2021-00-00
WHERE TO WATCH
Source: Inverse