Tilda Swinton Wants A Prequel For Her Doctor Strange Character

When Tilda Swinton was cast as the Ancient One in Doctor Strange, it raised more than a few eyebrows. In the comics, the character has traditionally been an Asian man and Swinton is very obviously a white, British woman. But now that the controversy has simmered down, she says she'd like to expand the character with her own prequel.

Speaking to ScreenCrush, Swinton said she's been asking Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige to make an Ancient One spinoff. "I'm pretty confidently dropping hints in Kevin Feige's ear about a prequel," she said. "I'm constantly harassing him about that. I don't know if it'll get anywhere."

Of course, even if she doesn't get her wish, that doesn't mean it's the last we've seen of Swinton as the Ancient One. She could always return in other Marvel flicks. Doctor Strange himself will appear in the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War.

"It's like being asked to join the circus," Swinton said about signing on to play a character in the MCU. "It's just great. Nobody is working for Marvel who isn't a super-fan. And it's run by the biggest super-fan of them all."

Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson said he was a little surprised at the backlash about Swinton's casting, but acknowledged that it's "absolutely the responsibility of producers and directors" to assemble casts with a focus on diversity.

"In this movie, we have about as diverse a cast as I think you can get, and that was a very conscious decision," he said. "Tilda was a way of adding diversity in terms of not just an ethereal, enigmatic, otherworldly actress playing an ethereal, enigmatic, otherworldly character, but we're bringing a middle-aged woman who's not 28 years old in leather pants into the Marvel Universe in a major role."

Doctor Strange arrives in theaters Nov. 4. Meanwhile, watch Swinton open up about the character in a behind-the-scenes featurette.