Marvel TV boss talks final season of ‘What If…?’ and ‘Marvel Zombies’ from 2025

Marvel’s creative brainstorming exercise — aka the wildly inventive and sometimes unhinged (in the best way!) animated series What if…? – is unfortunately coming to an end.

The Disney+ MCU anthology series, which explores alternate versions of events from major Marvel films, begins its third and final season on December 22nd, with new episodes rolling out daily until the series finale on December 29th. And Marvel TV boss Brad Winderbaum calls the eight-episode swan song “very bittersweet” as Jeffrey Wright’s all-seeing narrator, Uatu the Watcher, brings the entire story to a “melancholic” end.

Below, Winderbaum reveals what fans can expect from the final season of What if…?, why now was the right time to end the show and how next year’s animated event series Marvel zombies links to season 1 zombie episode.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Why end What if…? after this season?

BRAD WINDERBAUM: There are larger universe reasons for culminating it now. If you’re a fan of the MCU as a whole, you’ll notice that the first season premiered after Loki season 1 when the sacred timeline blossomed into a multiverse and suddenly all these new stories appeared. That’s when we started telling those stories What if…? And at the end of season 2, when the Watcher takes Peggy to look out at the multiverse, it takes the form of the tree of stories that Loki sits in the middle of at the end of Loki season 2. So the culmination of season 3 and of the series itself fits in that way into the overall MCU tapestry. That said, there are endless stories to tell What if…?and time will tell if we make more. But right now, I think it’s a beautiful way to end this era and culminate the story of the Watcher.

So there is a possibility that this show could still return in the future?

I hope so.

Was it always the plan to end What if…? after three seasons, or did that decision come later as the MCU developed?

It came about organically as the rest of the MCU came together and the Multiverse Saga began to find its conclusion. It just feels like the right time. And I will say this, our creative team led by Bryan Andrews, our creator and director of What if…?continues in Marvel zombieswhich will be published on October 3. If you remember that zombie episode from Season 1, it’s a lot like the Part 1 prologue to this giant, epic event coming out next year.

Do people need to go back and rewatch the episode before watching Marvel zombies?

Yes, definitely. By October next year I would give it a second look.

do Marvel zombies download directly from the episode What if…? How does that episode set up the new series?

It just goes together. It’s the same universe. If you’ve never seen that episode of What if…? you come at the universe from a different angle. So you could just watch the four episodes of Marvel zombies comes in completely blind because it tells its own story. But if you know that episode of What if…? and what happens in it, it completely connects with that episode.

Are you expanding other episodes into spinoff projects?

That’s a good question. There are definitely characters that I would like to see again. Kahhori, I love that episode so much from season 2 and she’s coming back in season 3. I think she’s just such an inspiring, cool character and really has great charisma and screen presence. And then there is a new character named Byrdie voiced by Natasha Lyonne this season who I would also love to see more of in the future.

How does this final season fit into the larger MCU?

I can’t really answer that specifically, but I will say that it fits into the saga as we enter the third act of the saga. What if…? season 3 sets the table in many ways.

Will the series finale end on a cliffhanger or will it provide total closure for fans?

i think What if…? should feel like a warm blanket. It’s a holiday release, it’s a new one every morning, it’s a little gift you get when you’re home with your family during the holidays to watch while drinking your morning coffee or hot chocolate. And it has that joy and that warmth and the glow of the season because these characters are very human and they’re super funny at times, but at times they really have to deal with some life lessons. And then there is a sense of melancholy. The ending is both happy and sad. And certainly for me, after working on this for so long, and because this is the show that launched the studio, it’s very bittersweet.

While each episode deals with a completely different storyline, what can you reveal about the main series we’ll see throughout the season?

It’s mostly an anthology with a bit of a serialized chaser, and this season – and this series in general – you can look at as an examination of the Watcher. This guy was happy to be an introverted observer of the world around him, but takes a chance and steps out of his comfort zone and into the stories of the people he loves, the people he respects. And it has a price, and the season takes care of that price.

Did you always know how this show would end?

There wasn’t an idea of ​​how it was going to end, but there was definitely an idea that somehow this was going to be a Watcher story. He is not just a narrator, he is not just a spectator. He is also a rebel in his own way. He’s a rule breaker and a guy who tries to reconcile what he has to with what he wants. And it was very interesting for us. And when it came time to culminate the story, that became what drove us. It has a very satisfying last two episodes. I find them very emotional to watch if you love the characters and you follow the story of the Watcher – he represents in some ways what it means to be a fan and how you interact with the material you love. I think the ending is very funny but very sad, very satisfying in every way.

What episodic storylines are you most excited for fans to see this season?

The Shang-Chi Western episode with Kate Bishop is so great, and really leans into that genre in such a fun way. The Mech Avengers episode, I mean, being a kid of the 80s and seeing all that Voltron, it was a dream come true to be able to play with those toys. Old Hollywood with Dominic Cooper coming back as Howard Stark and doing his Howard Hughes directing is so much fun. There are surprises in all of them, but “Howard (the Duck) Got Hitched” (episode), you don’t expect that episode to go where it goes. I mean, eventually, especially as a parent, it hits pretty hard. And Kathryn Hahn reprises the icon that is Agatha – there really isn’t an episode in the bunch that I wouldn’t watch a thousand times. And believe me, I’ve been in those editing rooms. So I’m excited for the world to see it now.

Which MCU actor will surprise fans the most with what they did for What if…? this season?

Dominique (Thorne) is back as Riri Williams, and it’s a dystopian episode in a world ruled by this tyrant version of Mysterio, and she’s really incredible in that story. I think people will be surprised by that. It’s great to have Hailee (Steinfeld) playing Kate Bishop again. And Sebastian Stan is just insanely cool and can show so many dimensions of Bucky. David Harbour, he’s just so funny as that character (Red Guardian). You’re like, “thank you more.” And Anthony Mackie as Captain America leading the Mech Avengers, he’s amazing. And that episode says so much, it’s such a great pilot for the season. Walton Goggins comes back and does his character off Ant-Man and the Wasphe’s so good that you start to recontextualize (his) live-action appearances actually and realize how incredible he was in his original appearance. There are simply too many to even mention, but these are just a few. I will say this: When Kathryn saw the musical numbers in the “Agatha Went to Hollywood” episode, she was like, “We’ve got to do this in live action.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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