During an interview with Collider, Doctor Strange’s Benedict Cumberbatch shared his experience so far making the upcoming sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, including praising director Sam Raimi. Cumberbatch spoke highly about what an “incredible force” Raimi is and how he’s been “so collaborative” on set.
“Sam, amazing. He’s so collaborative. God, he comes with the baggage of an icon. He’s an incredible force, especially in this genre. But he’s so humble, he’s so nice, he’s so appreciative, you really wanna serve him. And boy, when he’s happy, you know you’ve done something right. He’s so good at getting you there and getting it there. It’s been a very, very collaborative process, this one. Our origin stories, I guess, and obviously the beasts that were the Avengers films to be a part of were a thrill, but you’re kind of just along for the ride. You do the best with what you’ve already got given to do. The second time around, there’s a bit more of, ‘So, what do you want to do, and how do we go about solving this?’ So it feels very creative. Scarily so, sometimes.”
Benedict also called the sequel “a long shoot” saying they’ve been filming since before Christmas, and that he feels “very safe on set” thanks to the safety guidelines and “test and tracing system” they’ve implemented while shooting during the ongoing pandemic.
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Cumberbatch will next be reprising his role as Dr. Stephen Strange in the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man 3 in addition to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The sequel is being described as the first horror film in the MCU with the Oscar nominee returning as the titular sorcerer supreme and Elizabeth Olsen also appearing as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch. According to Kevin Feige, the Disney+ shows WandaVision and Loki will both directly impact the events in the Doctor Strange sequel.
Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch appeared in Avengers: Endgame, where they were both last seen attending Tony Stark’s funeral. Loki also appeared in Endgame and was last seen after the events of the Avengers’ first battle in New York, where he escapes with the Tesseract cube.
Originally set to be directed by Scott Derrickson, the sequel is now being helmed by Spider-Man’s Sam Raimi with Loki head writer Michael Waldron having rewritten the script that was first written by The Turning scribe Jade Bartlett. Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Benedict Wong will be reprising their roles, with Rachel McAdams recently confirmed to make her return as Dr. Christine Palmer.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will hit theaters on March 25, 2022.
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The first Doctor Strange movie was released in 2016 with Benedict Cumberbatch starring in the titular role. Joining him in the film were Chiwetel Ejiofor as Karl Mordo, Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer, and Michael Stuhlbarg as Nicodemus West. It also featured the MCU debut of critical characters from the pages of Marvel Comics, including Benedict Wong as Wong, plus Mads Mikkelsen as villain Kaecilius, and Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One (who is of Celtic origin in the film instead of East Asian origin). Doctor Strange was directed by Scott Derrickson, whose previous credits were primarily horror films like The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister, and Deliver Us from Evil.
