Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Star Lashana Lynch Speaks Out on Playing the Illuminati’s Captain Marvel

Marvel Studios has been going full throttle with their use of the multiverse. The studio has released three projects that focus on the multiverse with Loki, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The latter of the bunch opened new doors for the Multiverse Saga by introducing us to the Illuminati, which featured characters we already knew but are played by different actors like Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) and Maria Rambeau / Captain Marvel (Lashana Lynch). Lynch hasn’t previously spoken on her role in the film, but recently got the chance during Empire Magazine’s most recent issue that features Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on its cover.

“It was a wild one. Kevin Feige had messaged me, letting me know about Maria’s demise. [Characters] spoke of it in WandaVision, which I’m glad that they did because at least that’s good context,” Lynch told the magazine. “One of the producers of Captain Marvel called me and said they had this idea to bring all these new versions of characters back together and they wanted to bring Maria back. I was like, ‘Great, okay, she’s gonna be an ancestor.’ ‘No, she’s gonna be Captain Marvel.’ It blew my mind.”

“Hayley [Atwell], Benedict [Cumberbatch], Chiwetel [Ejiofor], a group of us were on Zoom just staring at each other going, ‘What is happening?!’. I embraced Maria as a ‘super-mum’, having a chance to flex in this very new but already existent way. It felt like it was meant to be for her. Listen, I’ve already mentioned to Kevin about ancestors. I was like, ‘You know in Black Panther when the dad is a panther in the tree? Maybe Maria could be by a tree somewhere!’” The Captain Marvel star added.

Previously, Michael Waldron, who wrote Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, recently detailed what he believes is a major concern with Marvel Studios’ use of the multiverse. Waldron thinks we should tread lightly with the multiverse. During a previous interview with SFX Magazine, the Doctor Strange sequel scribe detailed how Marvel Studios use of the multiverse could become a double-edged sword.

“The danger is you can expand your scope too wide, and you can actually reduce the stakes if you don’t make it personal as you go bigger and wider. But the opportunity in the multiverse is to have characters confront literal ‘What ifs?’ and alternate versions of themselves and perhaps others in their lives. It’s an interesting way to hold up a mirror to characters,” Waldron said. “In every way, it shapes the emotional heart of the story. It has to. The multiverse isn’t just a MacGuffin where we’re like, ‘Okay, this is just a kitschy thing that we’re playing with in this movie.’ If you’re faced with alternate realities and with alternate versions of yourself that has to become the emotional heart, exploring who you might be if you were a different version of yourself, if you made other choices, the right choices or the wrong choices. It’s complex stuff, emotionally, and that’s exactly why it’s so thrilling and so great for a cast as dramatically talented as this one.” 

The film was directed by the legendary Sam Rami and will star Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, Benedict Wong as Wong, Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/ Scarlet Witch, Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier, Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo. 

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now available on Digital, 4K, Blu-ray, DVD and streaming exclusively on Disney+!

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