The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: Malcolm Spellman Previews Emotional Avengers Follow-Up (Exclusive)

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is gearing up for its premiere on Friday, serving as the second TV series from Marvel Studios to hit the Disney+ platform. Initially, the series was slated to lead off Marvel’s TV content in the post-Avengers: Endgame era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe but unforeseen delays from the events of 2020 resulted in WandaVision leading off. Now, fans are expecting a bit more of a traditional Marvel story with high-octane action and funny quips from lead actors Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan but they will still be getting something brand new with all of that. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier writer Malcolm Spellman has used his television expertise to craft a story which takes the time to dive into these Marvel characters in a way which movies have never had an opportunity to.

“We were first up and, and it was a process like to adapt Kevin [Feige] and Nate Moore, the exec, who worked with me and Zoie [Nagelhout], you know, they’d only made movies,” Spellman tells ComicBook.com. “We had to get comfortable with each other and they embrace the idea that these characters now have a personal storyline not just story beats, but storyline that the only way it connects to the story is in how it affects the characters and doing that deep dive that I feel like that’s part of why they embraced me, and it’s what they wanted for this thing.”

Right out of the gate, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier explores sides of Mackie’s Sam Wilson and Stan’s Bucky Barnes which the movies they previously appeared in did not make time for. Sam is a family man, making amends with his sister and nephews while Bucky is trying to make sure he gets his mind right to safely function in a world with which he is still unfamiliar.

“[Bucky] was teed up really nicely for us,” Spellman says. “You saw what he did to Stark’s family. You’ve seen him be a villain and you have a sense of how many people this man must have killed. And then we had this line in in the series where he basically says ‘I remember every one of them,’ which means, ‘I was there. Whether I was being manipulated by HYDRA or not a part of me was there. And am I a monster? And if I’m not a monster, how do I prove that?’”

Of course, the audience watching this new series won’t be the only ones still reeling from losing Steve Rogers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The characters are feeling it, too. “The loss of Steve is the big one, because it hits on multiple levels, right?” Spellman explains. “You have a planet that is now completely spun-out post snap, post Blip, right? And that’s the kind of problem when the entire world is dealing with one problem. That’s the kind of thing only a hero like Steve is qualified for, right? And we distilled that down to you have Sam or Bucky who people really wrote a lot more into their heads and actually happened as far as how deep their relationship is. And they’re starting to discover through their relationship, the loss of Steve is very, very active because they’re just two dudes who had a mutual best friend in common and whether or not they like each other is tethered to the fact that a very important person has gone.”

Read ComicBook.com’s full interview with Spellman below and tune into the Phase Zero podcast, which has a new episode arriving on Friday featuring an interview with The Falcon and The Winter Soldier director Kari Skogland following the debut of the show’s first episode!

New Beginning

ComicBook.com: I want to start at the comics! Were there any specific comic runs you looked at, whether it was Brubaker, Spencer, the more recent Landy run or is this an amalgamation of a lot of several different comic stories?

Malcolm Spellman: It always is an amalgamation. Like, you know, we, we had a bunch of the truth books. I think that was a series we had on the table and it becomes- what ends up happening inevitably is you start to avert- diverge from the comic book universe the second you get into character and what it takes for a character to be emotional and go through this journey. and then you just got to let it be what it be and be arrived, but it’s all there. And you work side by side with Marvel and with Marvel execs who are steeped in both the comic book world and the MCU. So that they’re able to feed you either one like any reference point. I don’t have, they got at their fingertips at every moment

CB: What I like most about The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, from what I’ve seen so far is like I said you have the character development. We see Sam Wilson go back and be with his family and life outside of the Avengers. What did you most enjoy getting a chance to tap into in take a deep dive into these characters like the MCU hasn’t so far?

MS: It’s funny. We were first up and, and it was a process like to adapt Kevin [Feige] and Nate Moore, the exec, who worked with me and Zoie [Nagelhout], you know, they’d only made movies, and TV storytelling or serialized story times, forget TV, ’cause this isn’t definitely a TV show, you’ve seen it. It’s not a TV show, right? It has a very different rhythm to it that allows for those deep dives. And we had to get comfortable with each other and they embrace the idea that these characters now have a personal storyline not just story beats, but storyline that the only way it connects to the story is in how it affects the characters and doing that deep dive that I feel like that’s part of why they embraced me, and it’s what they wanted for this thing. And I’m hoping, it feels like fans are really really digging the pacing because it just goes deeper and deeper and deeper. It never abandoned the fun but all these threads are very much going somewhere very emotional and very real.

Bucky’s State of Mind

CB: I want to dive into Bucky on that similar front. I loved how the mental health and like the guilt that he’s carrying is front and center. How did you focus in on showcasing what Bucky’s going through?

MS: He was teed up really nicely for us because the audience…  You saw what he did to Stark’s family. You’ve seen him be a villain and you have a sense of how many people this man must have killed. And then we had this line in in the series where he basically says ‘I remember every one of them,’ which means, ‘I was there. Whether I was being manipulated by HYDRA or not a part of me was there. And am I a monster? And if I’m not a monster, how do I prove that?’ And so his personal storyline is just to prove to himself that he’s not a monster. And you know, all that baggage he showed up with and the ability Sebastian has as an actor, it turned it it turned into a dream situation.

CB: Are there more flashbacks coming to the series?

MS: I cannot say anything about that but all of that stuff is done with purpose and to load up the emotional journey for the character.

Hellos and Goodbyes

CB: There are new characters and social setting introduced to these characters lives. How do you develop new characters and scenarios to allow these new connections and characters for them to interact with?

MS: That was the agenda from the beginning. I left out an important thing about Bucky. Yes, he’s dealing with the fact that he wants to know whether or not he’s a monster. Right. He’s also a hundred and six years old. His brain was never present in any era. So he is not a man of any era. And so we realize that you can have fun creating a scene like the one you’re talking about. Right. And at the same time, here’s a profound layer. Think about what the old man says, right before he goes on that date. There is a profound layer to it of this dude is just completely out of out of place in every moment he’s in.

CB: As an MCU fan, I love seeing how the loss of Steve plays such a big role. How much of a presence does the feeling of loss in regards to Steve, Tony Stark, and Natasha play into the show?

MS: Well, the loss of Steve is the big one, because it hits on multiple levels, right? You have a planet that is now completely spun-out post snap, post Blip, right? And that’s the kind of problem when the entire world is dealing with one problem. That’s the kind of thing only a hero like Steve is qualified for, right. And we distilled that down to you have Sam or Bucky who people really wrote a lot more into their heads and actually happened as far as how deep their relationship is. And they’re starting to discover through their relationship, the loss of Steve is very, very active because they’re just two dudes who had a mutual best friend in common and whether or not they like each other is tethered to the fact that a very important person has gone. So that connectivity from the bigger plot level and world level is sort of dramatized into character relationship.

The Villain

CB: I look forward to seeing Baron Zemo in this show. We know he’s going to get a fully realized comics accurate purple mask. When that kind of moment happens in the MCU, they always kind of justify it. They explain how it fits organically. Can you tease it all, how you delve into an evolution for Zemo after since we last saw him in Civil War?

MS: It is, it is, it’s all front and center. And it’s funny because as we did different iterations of this, all the stuff you’re talking about, who Zemo is, what he did in his past for his country, where that mask came from, all just became tangled into one personal storyline of a man whose country, city, and family were destroyed by superheroes who he views as villains, right? And so Zemo believes he’s a hero in this series. You know what I’m saying? And all of that is tethered to something very very personal for him and I got to say, man, Daniel Brühl, like, you know Sebastian and Anthony can take everything out of the park but Daniel Brühl was like I’m going to steal every scene I’m in if I can. He was great.

CB: I can’t wait to see it. Which episode are you most excited for everybody to see?

MS: Hands down, five, it just gets real. And five, you’re going to cry.