Exclusive | John Krasinski reveals if he is returning as Mr Fantastic in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness raised the bar for crossovers and fan casting with its choice of actors to play the Earth-838’s Illuminati. Among the surprise cameos was John Krasinski, who played Mr Fantastic aka Reed Richards, the leader of the group. Fans have long campaigned for the actor to take up the role and Marvel obliged. But does he plan to return? In an exclusive chat with Hindustan Times, the actor reveals his future in the franchise. Also read: Mr Fantastic was to make MCU debut years ago in deleted scene

John was joined by Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Hayley Atwell (Captain Carter), Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel), and Anson Mount (Black Bolt) in the short sequence. So far, Marvel has maintained that the actors played these roles as a one-off. The Marvel universe is set to see a Fantastic Four reboot and many have wondered if John will return. Talking about whether he will reprise the role in the MCU, John says, “To be honest, I don’t know. To me, it was just a cameo.”

John says that he shot the sequence in a single day after Kevin Feige asked him, soon after he had wrapped up filming his web series Jack Ryan. “It was actually interesting. I wrapped Jack Ryan season 3. Kevin Feige called me and asked would you ever want to do this cameo for a day. And that’s exactly what I did. I went and played it for a day and that’s all it was,” he adds. In fact, the actor says the contrast between the gritty realism of Jack Ryan and the over-the-top fantasy of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was quite something. “It was a really exciting thing and really fun sandbox to play in. Certainly for a day, that’s one hell of a different universe, no pun intended. It was really cool to go from Jack Ryan to that in a matter of hours. It was crazy,” says John.

But before any talk of MCU, John will reprise another role–that of Jack Ryan. Season 3 of the popular show premieres on Prime Video on December 21. The show is based on the popular character created by Tom Clancy and also stars Wendell Pierce, Michael Kelly, Betty Gabriel, and Peter Guinness.