When Marvel Studios initially got into its Disney+ television era, it appeared to be copying the approach that it had taken with the movies – namely, begin shooting without a finished script and then adjust the story during reshoots and post-production.
Combined with the upsurge in content required to be produced, the results proved a bit mixed. “WandaVision” and “Loki” were well-received, but “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” wasn’t as well regarded and there was a sense things were being stretched thin.
Thrown into this mix was writer Andrew Guest, the showrunner of Marvel’s recently acclaimed “Wonder Man” series. A comedy writer on shows like “Community,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “30 Rock,” and “Suburgatory,” Guest recently spoke with The Watch podcast and talked about his work on Marvel’s “Hawkeye” series.
That show, which starred Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld,” was very well received at launch, but it turns out it was something of a mess going into production as a major creative overhaul was ordered just days before filming was to begin. He says first Joe Russo and then Marvel development exec Trinh Tran called back around Thanksgiving 2020:
“She says, ‘I’m going to send you six one-hour episodes. I want to meet tomorrow to talk about it. We start shooting in New York in a week and a half, and we want to rewrite the whole thing.’
I came in towards the end. I mean, they had had a writer’s room. They had rewritten [the show] after that writer’s room a couple of times. I was literally the last call they could make to anybody.
When things are not working as well, the thing I will say is that they want to make sure they shoot something and that they actually make it. And then I think there is this belief that we can ‘Fix it as we go.’ And that was very much the case with ‘Hawkeye.’
You know, Hailee Steinfeld’s character was written too young. The dynamic between her and Jeremy [Renner] wasn’t there. There was a lot of extra twists and turns that were sort of gumming up the works. We worked around the clock, and I was very much involved with Trin and Brad Winterbaum, who was not running TV at the time, but was very hands-on on this project. I needed their help as much as they needed mine. And we got through that process.”
His success on the series led to him coming on board as Head Writer on “Wonder Man”, which has drawn some of the best reviews of any Marvel title. While there has been talk of more “Hawkeye,” nothing has materialised as yet.
