Somewhere in the Multiverse, Jac Schaeffer‘s Vision Quest is streaming on Disney Plus…and it’s probably very good. Confirmed to be in development in 2022, Schaeffer‘s series would have followed Vision on his path to regaining his memories and humanity. Schaeffer’s vision won’t shape the next chapter in Vision’s story, however.
In May 2024, Schaeffer suddenly left the project, turning it over to Star Trek: Picard showrunner Terry Matalas. With production on the series set to get underway in the UK very soon, little is known about Matalas‘ overhaul but the recently revealed addition of a pair of directors points toward the series skewing toward being one of the studio’s weirdest projects yet.
As seen on the resume of the series’ Director of Photography, Christopher Ross, directors Christopher J. Byrne and Vincenzo Natali will be joining Matalas behind the camera, each helming an unknown number of episodes.
Like Matalas, Byrne is a Star Trek alum, having worked as director or assistant director on five episodes of Star Trek: Discovery and one episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Byrne also worked with Matalas on SyFy’s 12 Monkeys, mostly as an assistant director for 33 episodes and directing one. Clearly the time spent together on 12 Monkeys left and impression on Matalas and it could inform some of what we might expect from Vision.
Over it’s four seasons, 12 Monkeys grew into one of TV’s most critically praised science fiction series as it explored themes of free will and predestination, which may be of interest to the synthezoid Avenger. As pertinent as that might be, however, Byrne’s shared filmography with Natali might be just as noteworthy.
While Natali’s work on super weird horror/sci-fi films The Cube and Splice are sure to draw attention, he also boasts an impressive TV resume, having worked on series such as Orphan Black, The Strain, Westworld and Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. In addition to those series, Natali worked with Byrne on both American Gods and Hannibal, the latter of which, of course, made its way into nearly every Critics’ Top 10 list as TV’s best horros show in 2014 and 2015.
Coincidentally, Natali directed six episodes over those two years while Byrne served as an assistant director on 25 episodes. Their time together on Hannibal, along with Natali‘s comfortability with horror, could point toward Vision pairing the existential crisis of its lead character with some notes of an unsettling psychological thriller (perhaps that’s Ultron’s role in it all).
Of course, it’s impossible to know exactly what Matalas is cooking up with Vision and any inferences drawn about what might happen in it based on the previous work of Byrne and Natali aren’t worth betting on. However, if indeed Vision is going to be a little Hannibal, a little 12 Monkeys and a little Star Trek, with some American Gods sprinkled in, it’ll no doubt be most eccentric streaming series to date when it hits D+ in 2026.
Source: Independent Talent
Leave a Reply