Marvel Studios officially announced that Wonder Man will return for a second season earlier this year, with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley set to reprise their respective lead roles as Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery.
The Disney+ show's creative team is also back on board, with Destin Daniel Cretton to return as director and executive producer, and Andrew Guest as showrunner and executive producer.
During an interview with The Direct, Guest revealed that he has had ideas for a potential second season for quite a while.
"I have put some thought into what might happen for Simon Williams. One of the things that happened as we were getting towards filming the end of filming on the finale, Yahya, one day turned to me and he's like, ‘So, Simon can't act anymore.’ And I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ He's like, ‘Well, the DODC knows that he's got superpowers.’"
This would certainly seem like a major obstacle for Williams if he wanted to continue his acting career, but Guest laid out a scenario that could be beneficial to both parties.
"So I was like, ‘Yeah, so the DODC knows it. But maybe they don't want to let everyone else know it. Maybe there's a deal to be worked out between Simon and the DODC, where there's a little trade-off going on.’ We could figure it. We can square this circle, given the opportunity."
This interview was conducted before the show was renewed for a second run, so these ideas may not necessarily be used for the next batch of episodes. But if Williams and the DODC do end up working together, the show is going to need a new primary antagonist.
In the comics, Simon's brother Eric becomes the villainous Grim Reaper, although the character was depicted in a far less nefarious light in season 1.
Though it's probably fair to say that hype for Wonder Man wasn't exactly through the roof in the buildup to the show's premiere, Marvel Television's latest MCU-set series succeeded in winning over a lot of fans. Critics were also very impressed, and the show sits at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Wonder Man's dialled-back approach to superheroics and focus on character over spectacle proved to be a welcome change for those hoping to see something genuinely different from an MCU project, and viewers are eager to see more of Simon and Trevor following the events of the season finale.
In "Yucca Valley," Trevor Slattery sacrifices his freedom to keep Simon Williams out of prison, taking the blame for the explosion his friend caused by once again posing as terrorist leader the Mandarin. In the final scene, Simon uses the full extent of his mysterious abilities to break Trevor out of Department of Damage Control custody.
This obviously wasn't going to be the last we saw of these two, but the show's future was never guaranteed. This news makes Wonder Man just the third live-action Disney+ Marvel series to get a second season after Loki and Daredevil: Born Again.
Are you happy about the news that Wonder Man has been renewed for a second season? Check out the first poster artwork, and drop us a comment down below.
Aspiring Hollywood actor Simon Williams is struggling to get his career off the ground. During a chance meeting with Trevor Slattery, an actor whose biggest roles may be well behind him, Simon learns legendary director Von Kovak is remaking the superhero film “Wonder Man”. These two actors at opposite ends of their careers doggedly pursue life-changing roles in this film as audiences get a peek behind the curtain of the entertainment industry.
Along with Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams, Wonder Man will star Demetrius Grosse as Simon's brother Eric Williams, aka the Grim Reaper, along with Sir Ben Kingsley as the returning Trevor Slattery. Byron Bowers is also on board as Doorman. We had heard that Ed Harris, Bob Odenkirk, and Courtney Cox had been enlisted for cameos, but none of them actually showed up (Josh Gad played himself).