The Watcher serves as the narrator for What If...?'s first season, and the character is one we soon learned couldn't resist getting involved with the realities he'd been tasked with observing.
In an effort to defeat Infinity Ultron, we saw Jeffrey Wright's Uatu assemble the Guardians of the Multiverse; he even suited up to do battle with the insanely powerful android, hopefully setting the stage for the character to be an important part of the Multiverse Saga beyond just animation.
I Am Groot season 2 premiered on Disney+ earlier today and the finale features The Watcher's MCU return. He keeps a close eye on the sentient tree as he enters a sacred temple and repeatedly shares his desire for Groot to secure an ancient seed which he believes holds the key to happiness in the universe.
Groot being Groot, things don't quite go as planned, and the seed is destroyed by lava. The Watcher - Wright is given the chance to explore a very different side of the character here - panics that the Guardian has been killed, but he's fine, and Uatu realises it's Groot who is destined to bring joy wherever he goes.
Interestingly, as the finale ends, we learn Groot can actually see The Watcher (much to the omnipotent being's chagrin and shock).
"We were really excited about the prospect of bringing The Watcher in in a very different capacity than we’ve seen him in in What If…?" I Am Groot director Kirsten Lepore tells us in the video above. "Working with Jeffrey Wright was amazing and I can’t say enough great things about that recording session. He’s such a cool guy."
"We didn’t know but as soon as Jeffrey came in, it was ‘Boom, there it is. Incredible.’ He knocked it out of the park the first time around. He is The Watcher and embodies it. It was magical to witness him bringing that character to life in that capacity...and to give him a little sense of humour we hadn’t really seen."
The troublemaking twig returns to mischief in the second season of I Am Groot. This time, Baby Groot finds himself exploring the universe and beyond aboard the Guardians' spaceships, coming face-to-face - or nose-to-nose - with new and colourful creatures and environments.
Vin Diesel is back as the voice of Groot in five all-new shorts. Kirsten Lepore, writer/director of season one, returns in the same capacity for season two.
The supervising producer is Danielle Costa; producers are Craig Rittenbaum and Alex Scharf; executive producers are Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso and Kirsten Lepore. Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt is the co-executive producer.
The entirety of I Am Groot season 2 is now streaming on Disney+.