Doctor Strange’s Writer Had The Perfect Response To Scott Derrickson No Longer Directing The Sequel

Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange in Avengers: Endgame

In case you’ve been out of the loop on superhero movies news over the last 24 hours, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is currently without a director. Scott Derrickson, who directed the first Doctor Strange movie, will no longer helm the sequel, leaving Marvel to find someone to fill his shoes soon.

Following up on this creative shakeup, C. Robert Cargill, who wrote Doctor Strange, had a hilarious response regarding what he and Scott Derrickson will be working on now that the latter isn’t helming the Sorcerer Supreme’s next movie.

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Last year at San Diego Comic-Con, Scott Derrickson talked about how Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness would delve into the horror elements from the original Doctor Strange comics. Towards the end of December, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige clarified that the sequel wouldn’t be a full-blown horror movie, but I think we can all agree that even if it was, it wouldn’t be anywhere nearly as frightening as Cats 2: The Furrening.

Obviously C. Robert Cargill’s tweet is in jest, but I shudder to think about if such a movie would even be considered. Cats has already caused enough damage, why would we want to keep this insanity going with a sequel? Although I suppose this would be a good opportunity to brand himself as ‘C. Robert Catgill’ for the Cats 2: The Furrening script.

Following the release of the first Cats trailer last summer, it was immediately clear that the cinematic adaptation of the same-named Broadway production would be a wild ride, and the CGI-look of the feline characters received a lot of criticisms. When Cats finally hit theaters, it was met with critical derision and bombed at the box office, having only made $58.2 million worldwide off a reported $90 million budget. Universal even had to send a modified copy with improved digital effects to theaters after glitches and errors were noticed on the original.

So yeah, a return to the Cats world would be more terrifying than anything Stephen Strange will encounter during his journey through other realities. Then again, C. Robert Cargill did tell someone later on that Cats 2: The Furrening would be made with real cats, so maybe that would improve the quality just a little bit.

As for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Scott Derrickson stepped down from directing due to “creative differences” with Marvel Studios, but he’s still attached to the sequel as an executive producer. The news of Derrickson stepping down as director was shocking enough that Blumhouse’s Jason Blum sent him an email that simply said “Oh my God.”

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is being written by Jade Bartlett, is still set for release on May 7, 2021. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on its development, and look through our Marvel movies guide to learn what else the MCU has coming down the pipeline.

Adam Holmes
Senior Content Producer

Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.