Marvel just "confirmed" the end is nigh for hit Disney Plus show

Marvel Studios' Disney Plus era has been full of highs and lows. Thankfully, the good vastly outweighs the bad, ensuring that fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are satisfied by the shared universe's small screen adventures.

Most of those shows have lasted for just one season, as Marvel's desire to tell standalone stories that resemble multi-episode movies have resulted in the majority of them being classed as miniseries. However, it sounds like a new strategy will be put in place to have some of them return for new seasons. If that is the case, they won't be the first Disney Plus Marvel shows to get second seasons, as Loki and What If...? both returned for sophomore outings (and non-MCU show X-Men '97 will be back for another round, too).

That said, a new report from Marvel themselves has suggested that one of those shows could reach a definitive conclusion in the near-future.

What If...? season 3 is "the completion of a trilogy"

It sounds like What If...?'s upcoming third season could be its last. Speaking on the second ever episode of The Official Marvel Podcast, the head of Marvel Studios TV and streaming Brad Winderbaum discussed the animated series, teasing fans with what they can expect from it. He also, however, suggested that it could be the final chapter in the show's story.

Winderbaum referred to What If...? season 3 as "the completion of a trilogy", adding how it both complements the first two seasons and goes places they didn't. His full comments are below:

"It feels like the completion of a trilogy. It takes us to places that you’d never expect, it goes beyond the first 2 seasons, and its exploration of the multiverse. It pulls in characters that are very unexpected."

- Brad Winderbaum, Marvel Podcast

Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that the show will definitively end. The beauty of a show like What If...? is that the possibilities are quite literally limitless, so Winderbaum might just be referring to season 3 as the end of the current storyline. But then again, there have been rumors in the past that suggested the show would run for three seasons, so it is also extremely possible that season 3 will be the show's final season.

What If...? is a Marvel Animation series (the first ever animated series for Marvel Studios) which is based on the comic series of the same name. Set in alternate realities that run parallel to the events of the MCU, it reimagines what would happen if some of the events that played out in the movies happened a little bit differently (like Peggy Carter becoming The First Avenger instead of Steve Rogers or T'Challa becoming Star-Lord instead of Peter Quill). While each episode is usually a contained adventure, they often build towards a major finale, with characters such as Captain Carter and Supreme Doctor Strange recurring throughout. The Watcher is the only character to make his presence felt in every episode, narrating the events of each adventure.

Irrespective of whether What If...? season 3 genuinely is the last season or not, it sounds like it will be the end of this specific story. Perhaps a fourth season could hit the reset button entirely, introducing new characters and concepts for The Watcher to tell us about. Perhaps it could be more closely tied to fellow animated series X-Men '97 or just not as closely linked to the MCU.

It would be shame if What If...? came to an end after just three seasons. While that's a lovely number to go out (because everybody loves a trilogy), the storytelling potential for a series like this is endless, and it just feels like Marvel has only just scratched the surface.

Taking that into account, it's probably best to keep your expectations for season 4 low; if Marvel does renew the show for new adventures, then we can all be pleasantly surprised. Either way, let's make sure we enjoy the third season, and all of the adventures in has in store for us. It's sure going to be fun to see how this particular story comes to an end.