If you were wondering where Werewolf by Night takes place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Collider has answers for you…well, sort of. The new Halloween special — the first of its kind for Marvel — hits Disney+ this week, starring Gael García Bernal as Jack Russell, one of many people gathered at a mysterious manor under the pretense of competing for a great and deadly premise, and many have been wondering where the spooky special fits in with the timeline of the rest of the MCU, especially since the character has comics ties to other recently introduced heroes. (Looking at you, Marc Spector.)
Director Michael Giacchino — better known for his composing work on films like Up and Ratatouille — spoke a bit about the timeline of the special in an extended interview with Collider’s own Steve Weintraub. He discussed his own inspirations for the special and why those mattered to him more than the idea of connecting the hour-long story to anything the MCU has been doing recently with the likes of She-Hulk or Shang-Chi or anyone else.
Giacchino said that Werewolf by Night doesn’t really have an impact on the rest of the MCU — at least, he wasn’t considering it while making the special. According to the composer-turned-director, he directed it like an episode of The Twilight Zone, a self-contained story that wouldn’t have any bearing on the larger universe because, he says, he couldn’t come up with something that could improve on what already exists:
“We never had that discussion. We never talked about what this meant for past, present, or future within the Marvel Universe. The one thing we all agreed on is it takes place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yes, it's in there. We never say when, how or why. That was a big choice that we just said... I felt like they have done so brilliantly this whole interweaving connecting world between all of these characters over the past how many years. And I didn't know how to improve upon that. I didn't know how to make that better or bring something new to that.”
The director said that Marvel gave him quite a lot of freedom to play with the characters if Jack (Bernal) and Elsa (Laura Donnelly), and that they weren't held down by any connecting films or events when they were developing the story:
"So I was like, "Well, let's just bring these guys in and let it just be a self-contained story." I kept referring to it as, think about this as an episode of The Twilight Zone, and we're going to get this story and this story alone one night in the life of Jack and Elsa, and let's concentrate on that. Then from there, who knows? We'll see what we do. We'll see where it goes. We'll see how we play it all out. But I didn't feel the need to worry about any of that at this point. And they certainly weren't mandating that I did, which I love that I thought that gave us a freedom to do something different and do something new. It totally uncuffed us in a way where it didn't matter what we wanted to do because we weren't worried about how it affected anything on either side. So those challenges and those questions we'll deal with at some point. But right now, this is it.”
Giacchino says that, even though the special never addresses it directly, he has an idea of how Werewolf by Night fits into the larger Marvel universe, but that it will remain solely in his head, as there are "discussions yet to be had" with the powers that be over at Marvel. As he puts it, it was something he needed in his head to contextualize his own directing choices, but nothing that's set in stone:
"I have a very specific idea of how this fits into everything, but those are all discussions yet to be have with everyone else at Marvel, Kevin and Stephen and Brian Gay and all, everybody else. These are the discussions that I do hope to have. But in my mind, because you do have to have some sort of reference when you're making something like this, and whether it's just for yourself or to explain to somebody else a motivation or a character. But as I said, it's my idea of how this fits in. It's my version of where this all goes because I did need that in order to of push this through. But it wasn't something that we or I felt needed to be a part of this. It was just more for me as I was making it."
Will we be seeing Jack Russell in other MCU properties after this that will inevitably give us a better idea as to when and where the special takes place? It’s likely, considering that not only is Bernal a massive star, but Jack Russell has serious ties to Moon Knight in the comics. Maybe some of those appearances will explain Giacchino's elusive idea for when the special takes place. But for now, Werewolf by Night exists in a world all on its own — its own MCU twilight zone, so to speak.
Werewolf by Night premieres on Disney+ on October 7. Look out for more of our extended interview with Giacchino soon.