The fourth installment of Marvel Studios’ Moon Knight turned everything up to eleven, as Oscar Isaac's character had his entire existence flipped upsidedown. For those who have read Jeff Lemire’s famous run on the character, the big twist probably wasn’t all that unexpected, but seeing it come to life likely brought tears of joy to fans who love the story.
Warning - The rest of this article contains spoilers for Episode 4 of Moon Knight.
Not only did Oscar Isaac's Marc Spector get shot and “killed,” but he also woke up in a psychiatric hospital. Which is real, or are parts of both of them the reality? Either way, fans are no doubt scratching their heads and wondering what’s next.
In the closing few minutes of the show, Marc Spector can be seen looking around and observing many people and items, which serve as direct callbacks to earlier episodes; they are explanations as to why they showed up in his hypothetical Moon Knight delusion.
One of the characters Spector saw as a fellow hospital resident was Lucy Thackeray’s Donna, who was his boss at the museum.
Now, the actress behind Donna revealed even more Easter eggs from Episode 4.
Easily Missed Easter Eggs Revealed
In an exclusive interview, The Direct sat down with Moon Knight actress Lucky Thackeray to talk about her role as Donna in the new Disney+ series and what it was like to work with Oscar Isaac.
The most recent installment of Moon Knight included a twist that is likely to have blown the minds of audiences worldwide: Marc Spector is in a psychiatric ward—well, maybe. It’s all fairly confusing, in an intentional way.
In some of the brief shots around Oscar Isaac’s new digs, Steven Grant’s former boss at the museum, Donna, can be seen:
The first question right outside the gate was: did she know about the twist ahead of time? The actress mentioned how she “didn’t know that,” but many people on set “[would talk] to [her] like [she] knew [she] was going to be in the asylum:”
“No, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know anything, really. I had my scenes that I did for my audition. And that was it. And in fact, that was only, I think, two little scenes I had. And then there was this talk of the asylum. And I was like, ‘ Oh? Excuse me? What are you talking about? This sounds crazy.’ But then people were talking to me like I knew I was going to be in the asylum, and I just [had] no idea what anyone was talking about. So at the end of [my first trip to Budapest], they said that [I] was going to come back to the asylum. I was like, ‘Okay. Great! I’m available.’”
Did Thackeray tackle her brief psychiatric hospital performance in any particular way? According to the actor, “everything was so tightly under wraps,” but she was eventually told that “[she’s] the same Donna [who just] needs to be in a psychiatric facility." Naturally, she took every character element and cranked them up:
“Well, it was interesting because it was a tiny bit, and you know one line, but I was kind of like, ‘Am I the same Donna? Am I the same person with the same personality? I just exist in this place now? Or am I a totally different person with a different accent or a different this and a different that?’ I just didn’t know because everything was so tightly under wraps. So I just asked, ‘I’m doing my London voice, right? You don’t need me to be Australian or Irish?’ They said, ‘Yeah, you’re the same Donna, you just exist in a sort of different… [possible] parallel world.’ A Donna that has needs to be in a psychiatric facility. So I kinda took anger issues or impatient issues and turned it all up 100%.”
In her brief moment of screentime, Donna can be seen holding a blue Scarab plushie. Is there a purpose behind that choice? According to the actress, “that’s there for a reason.”
Thackeray can be seen “holding a box full of those blue scarabs” while managing the museum during the premiere episode, and so the stuffed Scarab is "a sort of little Easter egg" for big fans of Donna:
“So, yeah, that’s there for a reason. I think it’s just to keep reminding people about the scarab. And also, one of my scenes in the first episode… you know where Steven has rushed off the bus, and he’s talking to JP and [talking about the stranger following him], and Donna appears; I’m holding a box full of those blue scarabs. It’s… a sort of little Easter egg to those [paying attention]. To tie the two worlds together.”
The Clever Misdirection of Moon Knight
It seems that the creatives behind Moon Knight went the extra mile when it comes to attention to detail. Many viewers almost certainly missed the hidden reference to the blue scarabs Lucy Thackeray pointed out, but they’re still a nice subtle touch to have for audiences to discover.
The introduction to the psychiatric hospital undoubtedly contains many more undiscovered nods and references. Now, fans will have to be extra vigilant when watching the next installment, where the location will more than likely continue to be in the spotlight.
The Oscar Isaac-led series has shown that it’s more than willing to completely flip the viewers’ understanding of what they are seeing, making it nigh impossible to guess what may happen next.
It would, however, be odd for the hospital to be the true reality, as it would reduce everything fans experienced in the previous three installments. Either way, fans had better brace themselves for the final two episodes, which will no doubt crank the insanity up even further.
Moon Knight is now streaming on Disney+
