Doctor Strange 2 Reshoots & Cut Scenes Were Marvel-Mandated, Says Actor

Bruce Campbell says the reshoots for Sam Raimi's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness were mandated by Marvel Studios. In less than a month, the MCU will return to the big screen with the upcoming Benedict Cumberbatch-led sequel. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be a continuation of the sorcerer's recent arc in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Back in March of this year, it was reported that Doctor Strange 2 was still undergoing reshoots, despite its looming May release date.

Raimi isn't new to the Marvel sandbox. He helmed Sony's Spider-Man trilogy starring Tobey Maguire between 2002 and 2007. However, Multiverse of Madness marks the director's first project set in the MCU. The film also sees Raimi's feature directorial return following a nearly nine-year hiatus, as his last was 2013's Oz the Great and Powerful. That said, he wasn't the original choice for the movie, as it was initially set to be helmed by original Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson before he exited the project. Raimi and Campbell, meanwhile, also have a long history. The actor has starred in several of Raimi's films, most notably the Evil Dead franchise. Campbell has long been rumored to have a cameo role in Doctor Strange 2, but neither the actor or Raimi have confirmed this.

Regardless of whether Campbell is involved in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness himself, in a new interview with Game Informer, Campbell weighed in on what brought on the reshoots. The actor chalked up the changes to the MCU's expansive and constantly evolving storytelling. Campbell said that Raimi was required to reshoot several new scenes due to "updat[ed] storylines," adding in additional scenes and removing unnecessary ones. Read his full comment below:

"The Marvel guys, they make eight of these movies at the same time, so they're always updating storylines. So, my buddy Sam [Raimi] has had to add scenes that [Marvel] told him he had to shoot, and he's removed scenes that no longer apply. So until May rolls around I don’t think Benedict Cumberbatch even knows if he’s in this movie or not."

Conversely, Cumberbatch has previously explained that primary the reason behind Multiverse of Madnesss' reshoots was logistical issues. The actor cited the restrictions of filming during the COVID-19 pandemic, Marvel's Phase 4 release schedule reshuffle, and delays to filming due to his role in the Oscar-nominated The Power of the Dog as contributing to the need for reshoots. Interestingly, Cumberbatch did not mention the Doctor Strange sequel going through narrative changes. Of course, reshoots are not uncommon, particularly for big-budget films like this. Marvel Studios is known to allot time and budget for reshoots, in order to account for anything that may need to be tweaked following principal photography.

However, Campbell makes a good point regarding the ever-evolving nature of MCU storylines, and it's certainly possible that some reshoots were done in order to film brand new scenes. Following the success of Spider-Man: No Way Home's multiversal storyline, there has been speculation that Doctor Strange 2 now plans to follow suit and include more MCU cameos than initially planned, which is also unconfirmed. Perhaps the additional scenes are also intended to better tie the sequel to other projects in Phase 4. Despite being known for playing the long game, Marvel Studios' approach to storytelling is actually quite malleable. If Kevin Feige and his team come up with a sudden brilliant idea and can still execute it, they may have chosen to do so through reshoots. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness may end up being all the better for it.

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Source: Game Informer