Development By October 2018,
Marvel Studios was developing a limited series starring
Anthony Mackie's
Sam Wilson / Falcon and
Sebastian Stan's
Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier from the
Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)
films.
Malcolm Spellman was hired as
head writer of the series, which was announced as
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in April 2019. Spellman modeled the series after
buddy films that deal with race, such as
48 Hrs. (1982),
The Defiant Ones (1958),
Lethal Weapon (1987), and
Rush Hour (1998).
Kari Skogland was hired to direct the miniseries a month later, and executive produced alongside Spellman and Marvel Studios'
Kevin Feige,
Louis D'Esposito,
Victoria Alonso, and Nate Moore.
Derek Kolstad joined the writing team in July 2019, and revealed in March 2021 that he had written the fourth episode, which is titled "The Whole World Is Watching". This references "
The whole world is watching", the phrase chanted by
anti-Vietnam War protestors during the August 28, 1968, police riot in Chicago during the
1968 Democratic National Convention.
Writing Spellman said a lot of thought was put into the episode's opening flashback to Barnes's time in
Wakanda. He said the confirmation that the character's Winter Soldier programming has been removed was a moment "at least 80 years in the making" for Barnes and needed to be presented with "gravitas". Stan was grateful for the scene's inclusion, saying it was both exciting and scary to approach. He noted that it is a rare moment for Barnes to "let go" of his emotions. For the later scene where Barnes and Wilson are confronted by the Wakandans, Stan suggested changes that were informed by his understanding of the character's relationship to Wakanda. He said Barnes "owes everything to the Wakandans" and understands that he has gone too far by colluding with
Helmut Zemo, but he is also growing as his own person again and looking to take charge of his situation. When
Ayo disarms Barnes's robotic arm, Stan said this was a warning and a reminder of what the Wakandans have done for him: "a little bit putting him back in his place, which I think he needed at that point". Spellman felt many Black characters in past films were either a "
magical negro whose job is to service a white character" or be
fridged, but he thought the decision to have
Lemar Hoskins killed was more justified. He felt the series had earned the moment by "telling all these other stories with heart" and was confident in the audiences' ability to comprehend the connotations of the scene. Zemo actor
Daniel Brühl discussed the scene where his character destroys the
Super Soldier Serum vials, stating that Zemo has strong personal beliefs, particularly in rejecting the idea of superheroes, and feels the serum is dangerous "no matter in which hands it's in". and
police brutality through the character
John Walker, portrayed by co-star
Wyatt Russell. The episode discusses some of the
PTSD that
John Walker / Captain America suffers from, with actor
Wyatt Russell explaining that circumstances surrounding the character's
Medals of Honor represent failure to him and his attempts to right those wrongs are making things worse. Russell discussed the character with one of the series' trainers who was a former
Marine, and he suggested Russell listen to an interview with Medal of Honor-winning Marine
Dakota Meyer as research for the character. Russell felt Walker was the kind of character that is needed when fighting a war, but can sometimes go "overboard", which is how he described Walker's killing of Nico at the end of the episode. He added that Nico "didn't deserve to be killed by a shield. But he's a bad guy." Russell also compared the character to an "overzealous cop" who uses excessive force to get what he wants, referencing
police brutality in the United States. Russell said the U.S. government had trained Walker to be a killer through his military background, so there is a robotic quality to Walker killing Nico because he is just doing his job without thinking about the moral implications. On the symbolism of Walker using
Captain America's shield to kill an unarmed man, Moore said the characters were all trying to come to terms with the difference between reality and ideals, and the shield represents some of those ideals since it previously belonged to
Steve Rogers who represented doing the right thing. He said seeing the shield covered in blood was inherently impactful due to the blood covering a symbol of those ideals, and he noted that fans had a visceral reaction to that when the episode was released. He also said a central idea of the series was exploring what it means to be American and patriotic, especially from the Wilson's perspective, and he felt that to do so honestly they could not ignore the imagery of an American symbol being used to kill an unarmed man. Spellman thought this was an inevitable conclusion for the series to draw and was not done out of any agenda, believing the series would have been criticized if it tried to avoid such difficult topics. Mackie acknowledged that the shield has been used as a weapon in the MCU before, but never in such a public and non-heroic way, and he said the use of blood adds effect since the MCU films rarely show blood. Actress
Adepero Oduye added that "sometimes people need to see blood for it to get real" and felt the scene was the point where people could not be oblivious to reality. Skogland said the series had been exploring what the shield means to different people, and this moment was "deconstructing and staining what that shield had been".
Casting The episode stars Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes,
Emily VanCamp as
Sharon Carter, Wyatt Russell as John Walker / Captain America,
Erin Kellyman as
Karli Morgenthau,
Florence Kasumba as Ayo, Adepero Oduye as
Sarah Wilson, and Daniel Brühl as Helmet Zemo. Also appearing are
Clé Bennett as Lemar Hoskins / Battlestar,
Desmond Chiam, Dani Deetté, and Indya Bussey as the
Flag Smashers Dovich, Gigi, and DeeDee, respectively, Renes Rivera as Lennox, Tyler Dean Flores as Diego,
Noah Mills as Nico,
Janeshia Adams-Ginyard as Nomble, Zola Williams as Yama, and
Veronica Falcón as Donya Madani.
Filming Filming for the series officially began in November 2019, taking place at
Pinewood Atlanta Studios in
Atlanta, Georgia, with Skogland directing, and P.J. Dillon serving as cinematographer. Location filming took place in the
Atlanta metropolitan area and in
Prague. The series was shot like a film, with Skogland and Dillon filming all of the content at once based on available locations. The Wakanda flashback sequence was filmed after a break for the holidays, during which time Stan had grown a beard for the sequence. Skogland described it as a "magical night" and used the fire in the scene to give it a "murky" quality. It was filmed in 27 takes. Dillon said he and his team did the "very tight work" for the scene and the rest was handled by the visual effects team. Production was halted due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, and was scheduled to resume that August. Dillon returned to his home in Europe when the production shut down and was unable to come back to the U.S. when filming resumed. Several sequences in the episode were therefore shot without Dillon's involvement, including: the shot of Zemo smashing vials of Super Soldier Serum that was made to look like the camera was underneath a transparent floor; and the episode's final sequence which ends on a shot of Walker holding the shield with blood on it. The latter shot was filmed at a low angle, contrasting with the character's introduction in the first episode which used the same angle to portray him as a hero.
Visual effects Eric Leven served as the visual effects supervisor for
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, with the episode's visual effects created by
Tippett Studio,
QPPE,
Rodeo FX,
Crafty Apes,
Cantina Creative, and
Digital Frontier FX. Rodeo FX worked on the climactic Super Soldier fight, including a moment where John Walker jumps through a window, lands on a car, and then continues running. Two shots of stunt doubles were used, one for jumping through the window and one for landing on the car. Rodeo combined these with a digital double of Walker so the character could be shown to continue running straight from the fall.
Music Selections from composer
Henry Jackman's score for the episode were included in the series'
Vol. 2 soundtrack album, which was released digitally by
Marvel Music and
Hollywood Records on April 30, 2021. == Marketing ==