Anthony Mackie Says The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Won’t Feel Like a Marvel Movie

Last November, the Star Wars franchise used Disney+ to launch The Mandalorian, a first-of-its-kind streaming series from the Kathleen Kennedy-helmed studio. This August, Marvel Studios will do the same with The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, the first official foray into television for the company. Despite directly attaching to the movies it’s spinning out of, series star Anthony Mackie says The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is going to have a totally different vibe than the movies that have come before it.

“They’re going to feel different in and of themselves, because they’re shot in a completely different way than the movies,” Mackie tells THR. “I think people are going to be surprised by how in-depth and evolved the characters become by having six to eight hours to them, instead of just two hours.”

As you might expect, the time afforded to the shows on Disney+ — which Mackie insists will be six to eight hours — will be a welcome sight to fans hoping to see more character development of the side characters we’ve caught just glimpses of on-screen.

The actor adds, “When you’re on a team, you play your role. But with this, you really get to see who the characters are in their lives between the movies.”

The actor had previously told the DailyBeast that Marvel Studios is going all-in on these shows, saying the outfit is prepared to fail “100 percent” should it manage to take a stumble.

“I feel like, if we’re going to fail, we should fail 100 percent,” he said. “Don’t fail halfway. But it’s been fun, man. There’s so much stuff going on in the Marvel Universe since Disney has gotten involved, and we have a really supportive team. It’s Victoria [Alonso] and Louis [D’Esposito] and Kevin [Feige] and all the other guys over there—we always have people we can talk to if we feel like stuff isn’t going right. So it’s been great. We’ve definitely stumbled a few times, but we’re running full steam ahead to get these shows done.”

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is set to hit Disney+ this August. As of now, Marvel Studios eight separate series planned for Disney+, including the Mackie-starring show. WandaVision is expected to debut on the platform in December while Loki, What If…?, and Hawkeye have 2021 release time frames.

Cover photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images