The Falcon And The Winter Soldier’s Sebastian Stan And Anthony Mackie On Expanding The MCU On The Small Screen 

After the thunderous success of WandaVision, which launched the MCU's large slate of Avengers spin-off series on streaming, Marvel is all set for their next big release with The Falcon And The Winter Soldier.

Like WandaVision, this series follows the lives of key Marvel characters after the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019). Positioned as a buddy-cop action show, The Falcon And The Winter Soldier follows Bucky (Sebastian Stan) and Sam (Anthony Mackie) as they try to adjust to a world without Captain America while grappling with the weight of his legacy and the big question of who  can take on the mantle. 

Ahead of the show's release later this week on Disney+ Hotstar Premium, we spoke to stars Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie about what to expect from the series and raising the bar for action in the MCU. 

Edited Excerpts:

One of the greatest things about the MCU is the massive interconnected universe with so many great characters, but the downside of that is you don't get to spend much time with them since they're balancing so many character arcs. So, was one of the best things about this series format that you got to spend so much more time with Sam and Bucky?

Anthony Mackie: Yeah, I mean it was great to go into our back story to try and figure out exactly made our characters tick. I think Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) gave us a backstory and origin for Bucky, but my character never had that. So, being able to spend more time with the character really helps you to form a connection with them and get to know them. It was by far the best thing to have.

Sebastian Stan: Yeah, here we had 6 hours to really experience these characters. We didn't get those scenes in a two-and-a-half-hour movie. Here you have the action sure, but now you also have a day in the life of these guys.

The action on these projects is pretty crazy, especially for you Anthony, when you're flying around as Falcon. Are those scenes as much fun to shoot as they are to watch, or is it a lot of hanging on wires and waiting around?

Anthony Mackie: The action is a lot of fun. And we've used the same stunt team through all the movies and those guys are our friends now. They know our strengths and our weaknesses. So, I feel like in this show than any other project, the choreography for the fights were catered to us, so you really get to see some aggressive stunt work and have some fun with it.

Sebastian Stan: I think tonally the series is carrying the same action of the movies, especially The Winter Soldier and Civil War (2016). That kind of more ruthless hand-to-hand combat that's more grounded. But we have been lucky to be able to have the same team over and over again which helps us try to keep pushing it further and further.

The world is going through a weird time right now. What do you think Sam and Bucky would be like if they were stuck in quarantine together? 

Sebastian Stan: Somebody wouldn't make it (laughs). Either that or I think they'd get a dog together. 

Anthony Mackie: They would definitely get a dog. You know that show Two And A Half Men? That would be us.

Sebastian Stan: Yeah, Two And A Half Men and a dog.