A tweet from FanExpo Vancouver is suggesting that Doctor Strange actor Benedict Wong “hopes” that Doctor Strange 2 begins filming by the end of the year. A lot of sites have pounced on this tidbit as fact and we have a little reality check.
As exciting of a headline this makes it really doesn’t make a lot of sense for many common sense reasons as follows.
First, Marvel Studios and trades have yet to officially announce Doctor Strange 2 is happening, despite a recent tease from Kevin Feige and a string of hints from director Scott Derrickson. Casting at this point would be well underway (if not completed), pre-production needed to have started months ago, and stage bookings/production dates would have leaked by now.
The project isn’t listed on IMDB.com, a place where even rumored film projects have entries.
Productions on this scale are hard to stay off the radar, even more so if they’re going to be shooting in the next two or three months. A little common sense says that trades would have reported on Doctor Strange 2 if it was about to begin shooting.
Second, what would be the point of keeping Doctor Strange 2 a secret?
I know people think Marvel is able to keep everything super quiet, but we know plenty about the plans for their upcoming productions of Black Widow, The Eternals, Guardians of The Galaxy 3, and Black Panther 2. If it’s somehow connected to protecting fans from Avengers 4 spoilers, that ship long sailed with Spider-Man: Far From Home and Black Panther 2.
Third, Benedict Wong would likely know if he had booked a massive sequel filming within the next couple of months and wouldn’t be “hoping” about a production to start soon. Wong could have easily been misquoted or have been talking in the hypothetical. There is an excellent chance he said or meant to say “by the end of next year”. which is a little more realistic.
One of the MCU release dates for 2020 is listed as November 6th, the first movie dropped in that month which could mean a summer/fall 2019 shoot for the sequel is more likely. We’ve always assumed that November 2020 spot was being reserved for this movie.
In August, Omega Underground posted a potential start date for an undisclosed Marvel Studios film that begins shooting in the United Kingdom sometime in June. One of the contenders we suggested could have been Doctor Strange 2, as the original shot in London (but other options could also be Black Widow and The Eternals).
With that said, we find it very hard to believe that suddenly this sequel will begin shooting in December-January without making a peep over the last six months.