Scott Derrickson exited Doctor Strange 2 to avoid making a monstrosity

Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson was originally slated to helm the sequel as well, which was expected to have been the first horror movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, Scott Derrickson wound up stepping down from Doctor Strange 2 just months before production was to begin and was replaced by Sam Raimi.

While speaking on The Playlist’s The Discourse podcast, Scott Derrickson elaborated on his Doctor Strange 2 exit, which really was just due to creative differences and not any rumoured behind-the-scenes drama.

“All I can say is that what we said publicly is exactly the truth,” Derrickson said. “We had real creative differences. You know, the movie I wanted to make and how I wanted to make it was different than–it was just increasingly obvious that we were pulling against each other. And that’s how you make a really bad movie, I think. When the producer or the studio and the filmmaker are making different movies, you end up with a monstrosity and, you know, that’s why I had to bounce.“

Rather than being pulled in a direction he didn’t believe in, Scott Derrickson stepped away, but the director added that there’s no bad blood between Marvel and himself; he even went to the Doctor Strange 2 premiere. “Yeah, I went to the premiere,” he said. “I’m still friends with Kevin [Feige] and everything with me and Marvel is really cool. They invited me to the premiere and I went. And I’m friends with Sam [Raimi]. I love Sam, so there’s no bad blood over that.“

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Rachel McAdams, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness found the good Doctor traversing the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary with the help of mystical allies both old and new. Despite some mixed reviews, the film was a big success for Marvel, grossing $955.8 million worldwide.