Doctor Strange Writer Reveals What Really Happened to Rachel McAdams’ Character After First Film

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is expected to feature the return of one Christine Palmer, the nurse played by Rachel McAdams that often found herself patching the Sorcerer Supreme up through Doctor Strange (2016). The character hasn’t been seen since the first Doctor Strange flick, and for good reason — Strange scribe C. Robert Cargill suggests the nurse parted ways with Strange at the end of the feature.

Cargill made the comments in a recent Reddit thread as he fielded hundreds of questions for fans of his work. “They went their own ways and became the one that got away to each of them,” Cargill said about Palmer and Strange’s relationship.

The writer and Scott Derrickson were also developing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness before parting due to creative differences. In a separate interview, Cargill said he and Derrickson left because the duo wanted to make a different movie than what Marvel was expecting.

“It was creative differences. [Scott Derrickson] wanted to do one movie, and Marvel wanted to do another movie,” Cargill told CinemaBlend. “So he sat there and said, ‘Well s***, I’ve got this great script that I wrote with Cargill, and I’m really proud of.’ We were actually going to go out to other directors for The Black Phone, and Scott was like, he called me up and said, ‘Dude, I have to make this movie. It’s gotta be my movie, I have to do this. Do you mind waiting until after I’m done with [Doctor Strange 2], and he really wanted to bring me onto Strange as well. But in the event that it didn’t happen, he was like, ‘Do you mind waiting?’ And I was like, ‘You know what, if you feel this passionately about it, no. I’ll wait a couple years to make this movie.’”

The two eventually thought it over and decided to leave and do The Black Phone.

“It came down to Scott, and Scott’s like, ‘Well, I can make this movie that I’m compromising what I wanted to do on, or I could make The Black Phone,’ and he goes, ‘You know, I want to make a movie with Cargill. I’m gonna go make The Black Phone.’ It was, as he said publically, it was a hard choice to leave Strange behind; but it made it easier that he had a movie that he was looking forward to,” Cargill said. “And then the experience was just so great that we’re just are so proud and happy with what we made.”

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now expected to hit theaters on March 25, 2022.

What other mystical characters would you like to see appear in the Doctor Strange sequel? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!