Everything you need to know about 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier'

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is unveiling its latest limited series, this time featuring two of Captain America’s best buds: Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier reunites actors Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan in their epic roles, only this time for a six-part, limited TV series.

Ahead of the show’s March 19 premiere on Disney Plus, etalk caught up with the show’s stars, as well as showrunner Malcolm Spellman and Marvel boss Kevin Feige, on a recent conference call to dig into how this series will go down. So grab some shawarma or your favourite snack and settle in because here’s everything you need to know before hitting play.  

This takes place post Avengers: Endgame

Spoiler alert, but at the end of the last collective superhero flick, some of the leading characters weren’t exactly in a great place. That includes Captain America, AKA Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). The soldier had announced his retirement as the hero Americans knew and needed, and he bequeathed his iconic shield to Sam Wilson (Mackie).

When the series picks up, the world is wondering where Rogers went, and Wilson has a big decision in terms of what to do with the shield—and legacy.

According to Mackie, part of Wilson not wanting to pick up where his friend left off is because he just misses the man. But it also has to do with the fact that he has imposter syndrome, and isn’t so sure that he can live up to the legacy, either.

“Just like everybody else, [he] doesn’t want to see Steve Rogers go away,” Mackie says. “When he’s holding the shield it feels like it’s someone else’s… Because he was a fan just like everyone else. Because Sam Wilson, for all intents and purposes, is a regular guy that just won the lottery because Black Widow knocked on his door and needed a place to hide, and he fell in love.”

At its core, this is a buddy cop series… kind of

When the show debuts, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes (Stan) are very much in their own separate worlds, but eventually something happens that brings them together. That point, without Steve Rogers to serve as a buffer, is when the real fun begins.

“What we loved about the buddy cop, or the buddy two-hander genre, is the range tonally,” reveals Spellman. “You can go from as gritty as 48 Hours to as comedic as Rush Hour, but in between there is that first Lethal Weapon and that first Bad Boys. What we liked about it was it allows Sebastian and Anthony to do what they do and create that magic, but it also allows the broader creative of if you need to take on real issues, or if you need to get into something Marvel-ey. It's a very durable form of storytelling.”

WATCH: Why Falcon and The Winter Soldier are the best buddy duo yet

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The series digs into mental health and real-world issues

As much as this is a superhero series in which two sidekicks are upgraded to main hero status, the show is also tackling real-world issues. That includes taking a deeper look at both Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes in the past, and exploring how they’re faring in today’s climate.

To do that, Wilson returns to his family in Louisiana where finances are a concern (as it turns out heroes don’t actually make that much), and Barnes is working on himself with some serious therapy considering all that he’s been through.

“When Sam first started out, he was a hustler from Harlem. And then as African American culture evolved, Stan Lee evolved him in the comic book into different incarnations of themselves. So I'm excited for everyone to see the new and improved Sam Wilson,” says Mackie.

“Bucky is really accepting his past and sort of re-educating himself about the world that he's currently in,” adds Stan. “The ideals and principles he might have lived by, and been driven by at one point, perhaps no longer really serve in the same way. So he's in an interesting trajectory when we start out the show.”

It’s loaded up with Easter eggs and other Marvel stars

Would it really be a Marvel series without a bunch of random callbacks to other films, or Easter eggs put in there for fans to get excited about? Of course not, and Falcon and the Winter Soldier is no exception. The crew reveals that fans should keep an eye out for lots of fun things, beginning in the premiere, and that there are callbacks everywhere—especially when the characters visit a certain museum.

As for other Marvel stars? Well, Emily VanCamp and Daniel Brühl are also returning to their respective roles as Sharon Carter and Zemo. But even though MCU fans have become used to jaw-dropping cameos on these kinds of shows, don’t hold your breath for a Chris Evans appearance.

“I rarely answer no to anything anymore because things are always surprising me with what happens, but that rumour [of Evans returning], I think, was dispelled rather quickly by the man himself,” Feige recently revealed to Entertainment Weekly.

Maybe that means fans should just hold out for a potential Scarlett Johansson cameo instead?

Keep your eye on this new character

Ever since Marvel announced that Wyatt Russell (son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn) was joining the series, fans have been abuzz about what role he may play. While everyone should have their answer by the end of the first episode, the creatives did manage to give out a bit of a tease.

Feige revealed that US Agent John Walker, as the character is named, may be named that for a very specific reason.

“The past is prologue and the clues are everywhere in what has led to this moment,” he says cryptically. “And certainly that character, that name, sometimes it's just a name, but oftentimes we do pull from the lineage of their biography from the comics, and then tweak it as is appropriate for the point of time that we're introducing those characters in the MCU. Stay tuned over the course of this series.”

This is a one-and-done… at least for now

While excited fans may already be clamoring for a second season, as far as everyone involved in the first installment of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is concerned, it’s a one-and-done for now. However like all of the films and shows in the MCU, this story is really just a part of a much bigger one. So does that mean season two could happen, even down the line? Never say never.

“It's a funny question. And it's one that we obviously get asked much more in television,” says Feige. “We really did approach it like we do the movies, which is 'We better make this great, or we won't be able to do another one.'"

"If we were able to do another one there are certainly ideas," he continued. "The slight difference, as you've all heard me say and I think is becoming clear with WandaVision, is that they really will go back and forth between the Disney Plus series and the Marvel Studios features. So where characters show up and how? Sometimes we'll be in a direct season two. Sometimes we'll be in a feature and then into an additional season. We're just not going to say what.”

Sounds like fans should buckle up and maybe take some notes.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier debuts on Disney Plus March 19. 

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