Marvel Studios just announced the return of Jeffrey Wright’s Watcher in I Am Groot’s Season 2.
The character initially appeared in What If…?’s first season, where he led audiences through the MCU Multiverse. His next appearance was meant to be in the animated show’s second season, but continual delays led the cosmic narrator to pop up in an unexpected place next.
The trailer for I Am Groot Season 2 surprised fans when it visually confirmed The Watcher’s inclusion at some point in the next batch of shorts. However, while the character was seen, fans couldn't tell for sure if Jeffrey Wright would be returning to lend his voice to the character.
Jeffrey Wright Will Return as The Watcher
A new press release from Marvel Studios revealed that Jeffrey Wright will return to voice The Watcher in I Am Groot Season 2.
The episode in question is the fifth of the new season and is called "Groot and Great Prophet." Wright's Watcher will narrate the adventure and follow Groot as he "finds himself in the heart of an ancient Drez-Lar temple with a mythic prophecy he must fulfill to save the universe."
I Am Groot director Kristen Lepore confirmed that Jeffrey Wright returned to offer his voice for The Watcher, a process she "absolutely loved:"
“Absolutely loved recording Jeffrey Wright for this one—he was really incredible! The very last thing we did right before wrapping this season was to change up the ball-bouncing sound effects on the final mix stage. Felt good to add a whole new comedic layer in the 11th hour.”
In an interview with ComicBookMovie.com's Josh Wilding, Lepore shared that including The Watcher in Season 2 of I Am Groot was a "really fun" undertaking, one she didn't know if Marvel Studios was going to let her do in the first place:
"That was a really fun kind of undertaking. It was also an example of something that we pitched where I was like, 'I don't know if [Marvel is] gonna let me do this. But they did, and they were really excited about the prospect of bringing The Watcher in in a very different capacity than we've seen him in 'What If...?'."
She continued on, making it clear she "can't say enough good things about that record session [with Jeffrey Wright]:"
"Working with Jeffrey Wright was amazing. Can't say enough great things about that record session. [He is] such a cool guy. We had actually done three different scratches, you know, like the temporary dialogue for that episode. I did one; we had one of the editors at Marvel, who has a really great Watcher voice, do a few of them. So, I feel like we were just reworking the scratch, you know, to pitch this episode to make sure that it was working. And then we were kind of like, 'Oh, I don't know.'"
Lepore went as far as to say, "It was magical to witness [Wright] bring [The Watcher] to life:"
"And then as soon as Jeffrey came in, it was just like boom, there it is—like incredible performance, [he] just knocks it out of the park first time around. I mean, he is The Watcher, like he embodies it so [well]... It was magical to witness him bring that character to life in that capacity and to give him a little bit of a sense of humor that we haven't always seen."
Where Else Could The Watcher Show Up?
As great as it is to see Jeffrey Wright’s Watcher show up in different places, I Am Groot probably won’t give the cosmic observer much to do. At the very least, however, it should still be a fun few minutes with everyone’s favorite sentient tree.
While it’s always enjoyable to witness The Watcher in these animated adventures (which is basically what I Am Groot is), fans are still wondering when he’ll end up playing a role in the live-action side of things.
The closest audiences have come so far was an Easter egg in Thor: Love and Thunder. Will fans have to wait until Avengers: The Kang Dynasty or Secret Wars for The Watcher to show his face to the rest of the MCU?
Perhaps The Marvels could surprise fans and give Wright a brief cameo.
In the meantime, Wright will be returning to voice the role of the Watcher in What If…? Season 2, which was just confirmed to be returning this December.
