Kevin Feige reveals how The Mandalorian influenced the MCU

Kevin Feige shared how Disney+’s The Mandalorian had an influence on the MCU and reveals what he’s looking forward to next on the streaming service.

Marvel Studios head and now Star Wars movie producer Kevin Feige is one of the creators of the future of Disney — spearheading this new generation of media that comes both via big screen and small screen, movie theaters and streaming. And while Disney has valued itself on the former quite a bit, the latter is now growing to be the media company’s bread and butter.

With the launch of Disney+ in 2019, the streaming service followed suit with many of its competitors but also paved the way at the same time. This, for example, came with the first season of The Mandalorian, which was a “first” of many things. It was the first live-action Star Wars TV show, and it was the first of what’s to come in Disney+’s live-action TV plan.

Kevin Feige fits right into this plan as the television series WandaVision hits Disney+ this Friday, Jan. 15. And while it is the first live-action MCU show to hit Disney+, it has a lot to owe The Mandalorian for paving the way on this streaming service. But when it came to the production of WandaVision, what did Feige have to say about the two TV series’ relationship? In a press conference (via ComicBook.com), Feige said:

"WandaVision, we were all underway long before we saw The Mandalorian. There is lots and lots of The Mandalorian that has inspired us at Marvel Studios, not the least of which is the Stagecraft that were using on some upcoming projects… It was amazing to see the marketing job Disney did in event-izing that… These projects on Disney+ are as important as the projects going into theaters…They certainly showed they can do that on Disney+ with Mandalorian. The fun week to week, the discussion, sometimes series drop all at once on the streaming services, Disney+ I think was very smart to drop weekly…"

So, it’s interesting to see that with the two projects going on simultaneously, there wasn’t a huge amount of stuff for WandaVision to borrow from The Mandalorian. But with the two productions being so independent, then, it’ll be interesting to see how this series turns out. The Mandalorian itself felt like a risk, to create a Star Wars series that had nothing to do with the Skywalkers. (Well, at the time.) And WandaVision carries its own bit of mystique, especially as it looks to be a wacky, completely mind-bending series to watch.

Additionally, while doing the press rounds, Feige was asked by Variety about an additional Marvel asset that was coming over to the Star Wars side: Loki series head writer Michael Waldron. In response to that, Feige said:

"We’re thinking that we’re not — that is, um — everything you’ve heard about that has been leaked. It’s not stuff that we’ve officially announced or gotten into. So, suffice to say, the focus is on all the number of Marvel things we’re working on. The what, where, when and how of that [Star Wars movie], I don’t know. I’m excited for The Book of Boba Fett and the Rogue One show, and the Obi-Wan show, and [Patty Jenkins’] movie, and [Taika Waititi’s] movie."

There really is a lot at play here with all the other projects going on, and it looks like Feige and Lucasfilm aren’t quite ready to announce when his film will come out. Some estimate it could be as long as 2027, but like Feige said, there are a lot more Star Wars projects to knock out the way first. So as always, we’ll have to patiently wait for more to come. But at least fans can look forward to seeing WandaVision at the end of this week.

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