Doctor Strange 2 Star Confirms What We All Suspected About John Krasinski’s Role

One Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness star confirmed what fans suspected about John Krasinski’s cameo in the film. 

The former The Office actor set the internet ablaze last year when he cameoed in Doctor Strange 2 as an alternate take on the MCU’s Reed Richards. 

While the actor’s future as the character seems nonexistent, it was a fun – albeit brief – appearance from the actor that was a fan-casting dream for many. 

However, one note many had was the fact that Krasinski’s Fantastic Four character stuck out amongst some of the other Illuminati members, leading some to believe he was a late addition and was never actually on set with the rest of the cast. 

John Krasinski Doctor Strange 2 Suspicions Confirmed

Speaking on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Doctor Strange 2 actress Hayley Atwell revealed a key detail some had suspected pertaining to John Krasinski’s cameo in the film. 

When reminiscing about the experience of appearing in the movie as Earth 838’s Illuminati member Captain Carter, Atwell let slip that “John Krasinski wasn’t there” when they were filming those sequences:

Horowitz: You did get to don the shield since we last spoke. I’ve spoken to a bunch of folks that have participated in the scene in [‘Doctor Strange in the] Multiverse of Madness.’ Lizzie Olsen, I talked the Daniel Craig who almost was there. So, what is your recollection, ’cause like, was everybody there when you shot your stuff?”

Atwell: “No, John Krasinski wasn’t there, Lashana Lynch was there, Patrick Stewart wasn’t there. So, it was weird…”

Previously Multiverse of Madness star Elizabeth Olsen, whose character was responsible for Krasinski’s Reed Richards’ death, confirmed that she never filmed with the actor, but there was still the possibility that he had filmed with some other Illuminati actors. Atwell’s comments debunk this.

About the process of filming without the other actors on the Doctor Strange sequel, Atwell remarked, “That’s sort of the nature I think of something of a scale of that big,” that “CGI is going to sort everything out:”

“Yeah, it was… But that’s sort of the nature I think of something of a scale of that big that just CGI is going to sort everything out. And it’s very much… That felt very much the director and the editor’s medium, as opposed to the actor’s medium, because at one point there was this… “

She remembered Patrick Stewart’s stand-in coming to set on this “little contraption that had a cardboard yellow kind of cut out around it:”

“Patrick Stewart, when he comes in, there was a guy that came in, and he was on some sort of little contraption that had a cardboard yellow kind of cut out around it. And when he arrived, I remember on action, it’s all very earnest, and very intense, but there’s a slight delay of his entrance, and we just heard the, ‘neeeeeee,’ and then how he sort of has to turn in, ‘neeeeeee,’ and then sit. And I mean, there were a couple of times, the shot, our shoulders were going, because… to be that earnest and then be undermined by this ‘neeeeeee.’”

The actress joked it “reminded [her] of drama school:”

“Totally. Completely. It’s exactly that. And then having to be like, ‘Here, the great man himself…’ It also reminded me of drama school. I’ve been like, ‘The color blue and a weeping willow tree.’ Not many things embarrass me anymore right, which is great.”

Were the Doctor Strange Cameos Worth it?

For a film that has not built up the best reputation among fans since release, it is interesting to know just how much trouble went into these Illuminati cameos, including John Krasinski as Reed Richards. 

Given Doctor Strange 2‘s extensive reshoots schedule, it seems the whole movie came together at the very last minute. And the Illuminati lineup seemed to be one the biggest things that came down to the stroke of midnight. 

It has been mentioned that originally the team was going to feature actor Daniel Craig as Thor’s brother Balder in the Illuminati scenes, but he obviously never made the cut. 

Black Bolt actor Anson Mount was another one of those last-minute add-ins it seems, as the actor has mentioned actors like Krasinski and Patrick Stewart 
“[weren’t] there” when he shot his scenes for the film. 

He added that instead, they had “actors playing those roles” knowing that they would “either be substituting their shots or transplanting faces.”

And because of all this, many would agree, the sequence (and the movie as a whole) has this sort of held-together-by-duct-tape feeling. 

This was probably the only time we will see characters like John Krasinski’s Reed Richards in the MCU, so the damage remains minimal, but it is a little perplexing that the movie seemingly came in as down to the wire as it did. 

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness can be streamed now on Disney+.