Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: Episode 4, marvel, moon knight, preview, trailer

Moon Knight Directors: E04 Comics Influences & THAT Ending (SPOILERS)

Look, it's not like the folks behind Disney+ & Marvel Studios' Oscar Isaac (Dune, "Star Wars VII-IX"), Ethan Hawke (Training Day, The Good Lord Bird) & May Calamawy (Ramy)-starring Moon Knight didn't give viewers the heads-up that this week's fourth episode would prove rather… interesting. And while we know that might be an understatement, we also know that the episode has only been live for about nine hours at this point… so that means we're throwing on the "MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!" sign as the episode's directing team of Aaron Moorhead & Justin Benson discuss that ending, how influential the Marvel Comics run from Jeff Lemire & Greg Smallwood was, and why that's just the beginning of the surprises still to come.

While we know that there are some spoilers ahead from Benson & Moorhead from their interview with EW, we're going to avoid going into specific yet until folks have had time to see it and our reviewer posts their thoughts. But let's just say that it left viewers questioning everything they've seen up to this point:

On How Episode Four's Mental Hospital Scene Honors the Marvel Comics: "The end of episode 4 is actually a gift of the script. It came from wanting to do the least expected thing and completely disorient the audience, while also being completely true to the character that we've built over four episodes. Also the comic book character: There's a run of 'Moon Knight' written by Jeff Lemire, and [Greg] Smallwood did the art, and it has a lot of similar feelings and visuals to what happens at the end of episode 4. So we're really glad to be able to honor the original comics, the ones that we were the most drawn to when we were trying to crack Moon Knight. That's where the inspiration came from, especially visually and tonally."

On The Ways Isaac & the Marvel Comics Influenced How Benson & Moorhead Filmed That Scene:

"A lot of what we do is chasing what Oscar is doing. We feel like the show is at its absolute best whenever we're marrying what we're doing to honoring what Oscar's doing. I think that's pretty clear to anyone that watches Moon Knight. We've talked about this scene feeling like it's underwater, not just because he's been sedated, but because the entire audience has just been subjected to an entire worldview shift of what this show is. 'Why is there a weird Indiana Jones knockoff movie right in the middle of 'Moon Knight"?" – Moorhead

"Also, connecting it back to the Lemire run, there are so many iconic single panels within that run. But there's one sequence in particular where our hero has been trying to escape from a mental health facility. He finally gets out. He jumps out, but it turns out he was on an airplane, and he's free-falling. Obviously, that doesn't happen in this show, but we really feel like what we did captures the spirit of that distilled image into something that is not literally that but has the same feeling." – Benson

"Actually, not to completely spoil the Lemire run, but at the very end there's this image that completely lit our hair on fire when we first read it. It's Marc Spector hugging himself, and he says, 'Goodbye, Marc.' It's as he's achieving integration and understanding who he is. Now, we're not at the end of our story here, but we just felt like there's this antagonism between [Steven & Marc], and they're starting to learn to work together and gain some mutual respect. So when they first see each other in person, they would instinctually just embrace. That was something we were really leading towards with all the other episodes. We wanted to earn that moment." – Moorhead

If Viewers Thought Episode Four was a Shocker, Just Wait Until Episodes 5 & 6: "I think if you were surprised by episode 4, get ready to be surprised again by episodes 5 and 6. I know it just sounds like a nice little tag, but I promise you that's actually the case." – Moorhead

When Steven Grant, a mild-mannered gift-shop employee, becomes plagued with blackouts and memories of another life, he discovers he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector. As Steven/Marc's enemies converge upon them, they must navigate their complex identities while thrust into a deadly mystery among the powerful gods of Egypt.

Joining Isaac, Hawke & Calamawy is the late Gaspard Ulliel (Hannibal Rising), with Mohamed Diab (Clash, Cairo 678) being joined by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (The Endless, Synchronic) in the directors' circle. Jeremy Slater is the head writer, and executive producer alongside Isaac, Diab, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Grant Curtis, and Brad Winderbaum. Trevor Waterson and Rebecca Kirsch, with Marvel Studios as the producing studio.

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