How Moon Knight Finale Sets Up An Exciting Season 2

Moon Knight‘s finale not only brought the arc of the first season to a pretty satisfying close, it also set up an exciting and unique opportunity for Moon Knight Season 2! The Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Moon Knight took a much different approach to the character, by reconstituting its main character and his multiple personality disorder as a measure of his psychological damage and personal morality. 

The show’s initial episodes hinged on the mystery of why mild-mannered museum worker Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) was blacking out and waking up in James Bond-style situations. Based on the end of Season 1, Moon Knight Season 2 doesn’t necessarily need to deviate: 

(WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW) 

The final episode of Moon Knight Season 1 saw Marc Spector/Steven Grant/Moon Knight/Mr. Knight not only defeat Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) in battle, but free himself from the service of the moon god Khonshu (F. Murray Abraham). However, a post-credits reveals that Khonshu’s deal with Marc was rigged: while “Marc and Steven” were freed from being Moon Knight, but “Jake Lockley” (Marc’s dark, brutal, hidden persona) is still very much conscripted into Khonshu’s service. 

…Therein lies the fun for Moon Knight Season 2. 

Marc Spector’s life is still being split in ways he’s not consciously aware of – only this time, instead of it being a tug-of-war between him and Steven, it would be Marc/Steven playing cat-and-mouse with Jake Lockley.

The fun of that slightly tweaked premise is that it allows us to go through similar beats as Season 1, with just enough changes to make it novel and interesting again. We would see what the new “normal” for Marc/Steven looks like now that they don’t have Khonshu’s power (or so they think) – while Layla is running around defending Egypt as the Scarlet Scarab. Marc/Steven would no doubt have some real difficulty following the “normal” path of life, creating more odd-couple fun and humor; meanwhile, Jake would be getting into some deep, dark, Moon Knight business (hunt for Bushman?), while totally under Khonshu’s thrall – until he isn’t on the leash at all? 

That would allow Moon Knight to keep one of its best staples: the blackout sequence that create serious mystery and intrigue. The moments where Marc/Steven woke up to Jake’s violence and destruction are some of the best moments of Season 1 – why not expand on that? It would also set up more conflict banter between Marc and Khonshu (also always great), and give us good reason to keep the reality-tripping sequences of the Asylum realm that is Marc’s psyche. Marc, Steven, and Jake would definitely need to convene there to finally, truly, work out their differences and become a whole and unified version of Moon Knight (with a new costume, of course). 

Moon Knight built too big a corner of the MCU, and left too much on the table for the character and his world for him to just start appearing in movies, or showing up as a supporting player in other shows. With all this character and mythos established – and the massive buzz it achieved – Moon Knight Season 2 is now a must, and has some rich storytelling ground already under it. 

Moon Knight is streaming on Disney+.