THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER Showrunner Discusses US Agent John Walker's Perspective and His Road Ahead
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier premiered on Disney+ on Friday, jumping right into the aftermath of Captain America handing his shield over to his friends Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). In the first episode, we were presented with the terrorist group The Flag Smashers, and at the end of the episode, we were introduced to the government’s new answer to Captain America, US Agent John Walker, played by Wyatt Russell.
The series showrunner Malcolm Spellman sat down with Entertainment Weekly to talk about this new character, and he said that John is "someone who had done everything he's supposed to do." There is a certain kind of privilege that comes with the expectation that one's life should proceed accordingly as a reward for being the best at all times.
John, as a soldier who "has done everything his country has ever asked," is now "bumping into a reality where the country and life [in general] is going to challenge you in a way that upsets and obliterates your privilege," Spellman says. "The truth is, life isn't fair and just being the best and doing what's right does not mean that your journey is going to go accordingly. So, John Walker is in for some rough times up ahead as a human being."
Spellman says that what makes this series so interesting is that "all the villains in this series believe they are heroes. They can eloquate what they're fighting for in a way that even the heroes are like, 'Damn! That is a really, really good point,' because they all exist in a world that's very similar to the world we exist in today. Thanos has been dispatched and half the population has disappeared and come back.
“That's created a global crisis, just like the global crisis today. And from that global crisis are these various antagonists born, but they're responding to something the heroes also agree with and the citizens of the world are like, 'Hey, man, this is a tough situation. Maybe they're not wrong.' That conflict leads to some pretty amazing scenes because, what do you do when the heroes identify with the villains?"
That is such a good point. The story is so black and white when your heroes are perfect and your villains are evil. You know who should win and who should lose without question. But when your villains are complicated characters with a relatable point of view, the story can take twists you didn’t see coming. I can’t wait to see how this series pans out, and we just have five more episodes to watch it unfold.
Watch The Falcon and The Winter Soldier on Disney+ on Fridays.