Things We Saw Today: ‘Moon Knight’ Almost Had an ‘Eternals’ Cameo

The season one finale of Moon Knight left us with many questions to ponder. What comes next for Marc and Steven? Will there be a season 2? But one thing struck viewers about the Oscar Isaac series, namely its lack of relation to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unlike The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Hawkeye, Moon Knight didn’t feature any cameos from other characters in the MCU. Besides a brief reference to Madripoor and to the ancestral plane of Black Panther, no other MCU locations or events were namechecked in the series. But apparently that wasn’t always the case.

Moon Knight head writer and executive producer Jeremy Slater had planned for some Marvel crossovers that ultimately were cut from the script. The first would have seen appearances from the Eternals. Slater, in an interview with The Direct, said “I tried very hard to get the Eternals into the show, just because I’m buddies with Kumail Nanjiani… I want[ed] some Kingo. At one point, there was a flashback on the page that sort of showed one of Khonshu’s Avatars back in ancient Egypt, sort of dealing with Ammit being locked away, and Alexander the Great, and all of that stuff. You sort of saw this Avatar team-up with the Eternals. It was a really fun scene, but again, it was so massively expensive to recreate Ancient Egypt, to sort of bring in 3 or 4 of the Eternals to have this big action sequence.”

Slater added, “It was one of those things where it was a very fun scene, and it would have been a great cold open to one of the episodes, but it also would have had to come out of our budget somewhere else, and probably would have hurt our finale along the way. So, that was the cameo I had to cut. It hurt, but it was also the right thing to do for the show, and I think everyone sort of collectively agreed. There’s plenty of time in the future to team this guy up with other characters in the MCU and start building these connections; let’s not force something just because the other shows have all had it.”

We still don’t know when we’ll see the Eternals again. Worldwide the film earned $402 million, which is low for Marvel films. And reviews for the film were mixed. As for Moon Knight, fans are still waiting on confirmation for a second season. We’ll have to wait and see what the MCU has in store for those characters.

(via The Direct, image: Marvel/Disney+)

• Everyone is excited for the Quantum Leap reboot. (via Pajiba)
• How the forest of Endor disappeared. (via SF Gate)
• RIP ‘Somebody, Somewhere’ actor Mike Hagerty. (via Vulture)

• Ms. Pac-Man was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. (via AP)
• ‘Halo Infinite’ addresses season 2 update issues. (via IGN)
• More like ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of MONEY’, am I right? (via Collider)

It’s been a WEEK, Mary Suevians! Rest up, hydrate, and take care of yourselves.

—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—