In a bit of shocking news, Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson has stepped down from directing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The director took to Twitter to share the news that he and Marvel have mutually parted ways in terms of him directing the Doctor Strange sequel.
Derrickson went on to reveal that the parting of ways was over “creative differences”. However, Derrickson will remain onboard as an executive producer of the film. While we are sure Marvel and Derrickson will not reveal the actual reasoning behind that partial departure, we can probably speculate that those creative differences are due to the severity of how “scary” the film was intended to be.
Going back to SDCC 2019 when Marvel Studios revealed all of Phase 4. The announcement of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was garnished with the return of Doctor Strange (2016) director Scott Derrickson. Taking the stage, Derrickson revealed that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness would be the MCU’s first “scary film”. Derrickson also revealed at the time that Nightmare would be the main villain of the film, given the name of the villain, we can see why Derrickson wanted to go that route.
Before the end of 2019, Kevin Feige had revealed that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness would not be a scary film, however, the film will have some “scary aspects”. Thus shooting down Derrickson’s previous statement that was made over the Summer. As I mentioned above, we can only speculate that the horror aspect of this film played heavily into these creative differences. While we don’t know all the INs and OUTs of what goes on behind the scenes over at Marvel Studios, we can also speculate or theorize that Doctor Strange’s inclusion, as well as Nightmare’s rumored villain role in WandaVision, might’ve changed some of those initial ideas that Derrickson and Marvel had put together.
In a report by Variety, which is also backed by THR. Both outlets are reporting that Marvel is currently looking for a new director and has no plans to delay the filming of Doctor Strange 2, which is set to start filming in May of this year.
Source: Scott Derrickson Twitter, Variety, THR