Marvel Recasts Spider-Man: Far From Home Character for Vision Quest Series

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has just recast an essential character for its upcoming series Vision Quest. According to a report by Variety, E.D.I.T.H. will be played by Emily Hampshire in the show, which is now in production and is expected to premiere sometime next year. E.D.I.T.H. is the artificial intelligence that Peter Parker works with in Spider-Man: Far From Home, created by Tony Stark to control his arsenal of superhero tech. She was played by Dawn Michelle King in that movie, and was referenced in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but we haven’t seen her since. It’s unclear what kind of role she might play in Vision Quest, as the series will focus heavily on AI characters.

Vision Quest is the working title for a Disney+ streaming series following Vision (Paul Bettany) after the events of WandaVision. The one-of-a-kind android was created through a combination of Tony Stark’s AI assistant J.A.R.V.I.S., a partial download of Ultron’s consciousness, the Mind Stone itself, and an infusion of Thor’s power. Since then, other disembodied AI personas like E.D.I.T.H. have replaced J.A.R.V.I.S. in Stark’s hardware, but it’s unclear how they feel about that.

We already know that Vision Quest will see James Spader reprising his role as Ultron, and it seems safe to speculate that the show will explore the existential questions of these AI consciousnesses more deeply than ever. Last we saw Vision, he had just recovered his memories through Wanda’s magic, but he immediately flew off, abandoning her as he contemplates his own resurrection.

[RELATED: Vision Quest Creator Shares Approach to WandaVision Follow-Up (& It Sounds Perfect)]

It’s possible that E.D.I.T.H. and other AIs have a big role to play in this soul-searching, perhaps even appearing in some kind of physical form for the first time. In the Spider-Man movies, E.D.I.T.H. spoke to Peter (Tom Holland) in voice-over, but she lived entirely in a pair of Tony’s sunglasses, and did not display much agency or personality of her own. Her access to Stark’s armory definitely makes her a potential powerhouse. Then again, she may appear here only to contrast beings like Vision and Ultron who have become more self-aware.

The reason for the re-casting is unclear, but it’s notable that King has not done much acting outside of this voice-over performance. Most of her film credits are in the editorial department, so perhaps she wasn’t interested in reprising her role for this series. If the role has been expanded here, it may also have been too big of a commitment, or there may have been union requirements that made a new actor necessary.

Vision Quest is in production now, but it’s a long way off in the grand scheme of the MCU. Ironheart is up next, premiering on June 24th on Disney+, followed by The Fantastic Four: First Steps in theaters on July 25th. After that comes Eyes of Wakanda on Disney+ on August 6th, then Wonder Man in December. Vision Quest is expected sometime in 2026, but an exact release date has not been announced yet.