Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has officially lost director Scott Derrickson. The filmmaker was responsible for directing the first installment of this popular MCU superhero franchise. He has decided to step away from the sequel due to creative differences. Marvel Studios has confirmed his departure. They had this to say about the unexpected decision.

"Marvel Studios and Scott Derrickson have amicably parted ways on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness due to creative differences. We remain grateful to Scott for his contributions to the MCU."

Scott Derrickson will remain on board the sequel as an executive producer. The filmmaker noted that this decision was mutual.

"Marvel and I have mutually agreed to part ways on Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness due to creative differences. I am thankful for our collaboration and will remain on as EP."

It isn't clear what Scott Derrickson will be moving onto from here. He did report over the holidays that he was working on a new horror movie. At this time, Marvel Studios has not announced a new director for Doctor Strange 2. But They are apparently looking for a replacement.

The highly anticipated Doctor Strange sequel was officially announced by Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con panel. Feige called Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness "the first scary MCU film." And later joked, "It's gonna be PG-13 and you're going to like it!" The news spread like wildfire as Marvel Cinematic Universe fans wondered what Scott Derrickson was cooking up. For the most part, fans were excited to see Derrickson reunite with Doctor Strange star Benedict Cumberbatch. The actor has not yet commented on the situation.

The last draft of the Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness screenplay was written by Jade Bartlett. It's unclear if Bartlett's latest draft of the script will remain, or if he will continue to be involved either. At this time, it appears that only Scott Derrickson has parted ways with Marvel Studios. It is believed that the upcoming WandaVision Disney+ series will directly tie into the big screen sequel, but it is unclear if that will be happening. The two projects are closely linked together, according to Kevin Feige. This may have been where the "creative differences" originally stemmed from, though that is also unclear.

For now, we're going to have to wait and see where Marvel Studios goes from here. There are more than likely a ton of directors waiting to get a chance to work within the MCU. There are also probably a lot of directors with whom the studio has already worked with who may also be interested in taking on Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness. Fans are used to seeing this sort of thing happen with Lucasfilm, but not with Marvel Studios, except for when they fired and later rehired James Gunn for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. There will also probably be a delay while the studio sorts all of this out. The news was first dropped by Variety.