Moon Knight Showrunner Reveals Why They Cut An Amazing Crossover
That could've been amazing!
With the first (and final?) season of Moon Knight in the books, we’re now getting some details of scenes and plot points that were left out. Moon Knight’s head writer and executive producer Jeremy Slater recently revealed in an interview with The Direct that a cameo featuring members of The Eternals had to be scrapped. While this certainly would have been an epic sequence, it seems like they felt like the budget could have been better used elsewhere.
In the interview, Slater revealed that Kumail Nanjiana’s Kingo would have made an appearance, alongside three or four other Eternals. The scene would have had one of Khonshu’s avatars teaming up with the Eternals in ancient Egypt. He also mentioned that it would have likely been a cold open to one of the episodes. However, the scene was cut to ensure their budget wasn’t hurt for other important sequences in the show. This seems like it was the right decision since the finale was full of VFX and was likely very expensive. Moon Knight has been very warmly received, so it seems like the showrunners knew what they were doing when they cut this cameo.
It’s honestly not too surprising that the Moon Knight showrunners cut a short, but expensive cameo that connected the show to the larger MCU. Moon Knight was praised for being very self-contained and not leaning on its place in the popular cinematic franchise. You could easily watch the show without having to look up a ton of MCU lore or give your friends a rundown of everything they need to know about Marvel movies. Instead, you can just sit back and watch Oscar Isaac put on an Emmy-worthy performance combined with some cool Egyptian iconography and superhero action.
With that being said, it seems like the Eternals cameo would have felt pretty organic. The character of Moon Knight is a human avatar imbued with the powers of the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Khonshu has had many avatars throughout history, so seeing one of the previous avatars fighting alongside the Eternals back when they were still active wouldn’t be a stretch. Also, it seems like the cameo was pretty short and ultimately inconsequential since it was just a cool cold open. Which also makes it a natural thing to cut if budget is a concern. Still, MCU fans like to see their favorite heroes interact, so maybe we’ll get to see some connections if we get more Moon Knight in the future. Moon Knight has even been an Avenger, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Also, if someone on the Moon Knight team can find a way to get Moon Knight to ask Dracula for money, that would be great.
With or without the cameos, Moon Knight is definitely a great watch for Marvel fans and non-Marvel fans alike. If it ends up getting more seasons, there should be plenty of time for more cameos later on. For now, you can stream all of Moon Knight on Disney+.
