Marvel Studios Is 'Open' To Making More Specials Like Werewolf By Night, But Don't Have Any More Lined Up Yet [Exclusive]

"Werewolf by Night" really stood out in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was a single hour based on the comic book character of the same name and was (sort of) a first shot across the bow for the idea of a special rather than a series or a full-length feature film. It was followed by a presentation connected to the main MCU, "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special."

Of course, Marvel has done something akin to this before in the form of 3- to 15-minute short films called One Shots that align with their features like "All Hail the King" and "Agent Carter" which went with "Iron Man 3" and "The Consultant" that was spawned by "Thor." "Werewolf by Night," however, was more in the style of holiday specials like the animated "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" from 1966 that used to air on television around Halloween. 

The production, starring Gael García Bernal as Jack Russell/the titular Werewolf by Night and Laura Donnelly as Elsa Bloodstone, was well-received when it was released. According to a recent interview from /Film's own Jeremy Mathai with "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" and "Werewolf by Night" producer Stephen Broussard, Marvel Studios is "open" to doing more of these. He joked about a suggestion for one, and, to be honest, it sounds like a great idea. 

Broussard was asked if Marvel has plans to continue doing specials like this. Broussard said that "if you give us an opportunity, we'll always come up with a short form special." He mentioned the One Shots and said: 

"I joke about, 'What does the Arbor Day holiday special look like with Groot? What are the unexpected holidays, National Donut Day or something like that?' That is funny to me about those different types of holiday specials."

I don't know about you, but I would watch the heck out of a Groot Arbor Day holiday special, joke or not. It's clear that the National Donut Day one isn't happening, but hey, Tony Stark does eat donuts while sitting inside the giant one atop Randy's Donuts in "Iron Man 2," so hey, maybe? There are holidays for everything. There's Talk Like Shakespeare Day, which could give old Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley) a chance to break out his "Macbeth" again. 

A shorter introduction does give the opportunity for Marvel Studios to introduce lesser-known characters into the MCU with some context that would keep a bit of exposition out of future MCU films or expand them later.

Before you get too excited about the idea, Broussard said there isn't anything definite in the pipeline at the moment. He added:

"Certainly, as a format, it's something we're open to. Nothing really concrete right now, and we have a lot going on. So it's always about making sure we are putting our efforts where they're most needed at any given moment. But those characters, I will say, just looking at 'Werewolf by Night,' which I worked on, you talk about kicking doors down into new worlds, the notion of the monster-verse and the horror-verse and the cult-verse, very exciting. Very exciting to me. I'll say that."

Personally, I'm not sure that we need any more "verses" in the MCU with the multiverse broken open, but I love the idea of things that are less connected to what's already happening. "Guardians" sort of lends itself to one-offs just by the nature of the characters, but having "Werewolf by Night" sort of separate — whether or not he appears later on in the MCU — was kind of refreshing. No recaps or research is necessary to enjoy a lightly-connected one shot. 

"Werewolf by Night," "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special," and the shorter One Shot films are all streaming on Disney+.