Highlights
- Emily Hampshire plays the AI E.D.I.T.H. in VisionQuest, which streams on Disney+ from October 14 with a two-episode premiere
- She has said she had to look up what "MCU" meant when she was cast, and has since watched all the films
- She told Hindustan Times she received "Disney training" to avoid spoilers
- Hampshire, showrunner Terry Matalas, Todd Stashwick and Faran Tahir all worked together on 12 Monkeys
The confession
Emily Hampshire was told she was in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by her lawyer, and she did not know what that meant. "I had to look up what MCU meant," she said.
The line has been doing the rounds again as VisionQuest nears its release, but she first said it last September, on the red carpet of the Artists for Peace and Justice gala, in an interview with Canadian TV show etalk. She had been unable to talk about the job for a year. Since then, she says, she has watched all the movies and, as she put it, "now I know everything."
It's a candid admission from an actor cast in a show Marvel keeps tightly under wraps. Hampshire has described how tight the lid was kept: scripts had to be handed back at the end of each day.
'Disney training'
She told Hindustan Times that she received "Disney training" on avoiding spoilers, adding that "every question might be a trap." She also said working on the show changed her sense of what superhero films and series can be.
Who is E.D.I.T.H.?
For anyone who needs the refresher: E.D.I.T.H. is the AI built into Tony Stark's glasses, introduced in Spider-Man: Far From Home in 2019, where she was a voice, performed by Dawn Michelle King. After No Way Home she was listed as offline.
In VisionQuest she has a body. The series finds Paul Bettany's Vision in hiding, consulting the AI personas inside his mind, among them Ultron (James Spader), F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Orla Brady) and J.A.R.V.I.S. (James D'Arcy). Hampshire describes her E.D.I.T.H. as "part cheerleader, part AI, part malfunctioning theme park ride," a system once used to hand a teenager access to drones and satellites that has now been reprogrammed for fun. Matalas says he wrote the part with Hampshire's voice in his head.
A 12 Monkeys reunion inside Marvel
Her route into Marvel runs through Matalas, who ran Syfy's 12 Monkeys and later Star Trek: Picard. Hampshire played Jennifer Goines in that time-travel series, and she is not the only alumnus in VisionQuest. Todd Stashwick, who plays Paladin, and Faran Tahir were in it too.
Faran Tahir returns as Raza
For Eastern Eye readers, Tahir is the cast member to watch. The Pakistani-American actor returns as Raza, the leader of the Ten Rings cell who kidnaps Tony Stark in Iron Man (2008). It is his first MCU appearance in nearly two decades, and the Ten Rings were later explored in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Tahir was born in Los Angeles in 1963 to the actor and writer Naeem Tahir and the radio host Yasmeen Tahir, and spent much of his childhood in Pakistan. His maternal grandparents, Imtiaz Ali Taj and Hijab Imtiaz Ali, were acclaimed Pakistani writers. He has also played Captain Robau in Star Trek (2009) and President Patel in Elysium.
He has said the call came from an executive producer he knew from 12 Monkeys. Raza was once meant to appear in three films, he told actor Ahmad Ali Butt's podcast, and "it'll be fun to revive that character after 17 years." Tahir said filming took place at Pinewood Studios in London.
Who is Emily Hampshire?
Hampshire was born in Montreal and became interested in acting at 11, after seeing Les Misérables with her mother. She is best known as Stevie Budd in Schitt's Creek, and has led the series Chapelwaite and The Rig. She moved to Los Angeles in 2007. Next, she is set to appear in the second season of Heated Rivalry as Vanessa, the best friend of Fabian Salah. She says she was also an uncredited voice in season one.
When and where to watch
VisionQuest streams on Disney+ from Wednesday, October 14, with two episodes together, and the remaining six of eight arrive weekly. In India it is on JioHotstar, according to 9to5Marvel. Before that, UK audiences get an early look: the BFI London Film Festival screens the first two episodes at BFI IMAX on Monday, October 12 at 6pm, a 97-minute presentation.
