The use of television shows to drive characters’ stories is the best thing to happen to any cinematic universe because they  can expand those “worlds” more than standalone movies.

Whether it’s Marvel, Star Wars, or DC, shows derived from these fictional universes allow fans to spend quality time with minor movie characters they’ve come to love but don’t necessarily know. 

For comic lovers, their favorite side character could be a main character for a short time.

I’m not saying we should drop movies and push out shows. Movies will continue to dominate box offices but to get more people interested in a story, TV shows are a necessity. 

For example, no one anticipated the storyline of Marvel TV show “WandaVision,” which was streamed on Disney+. Technically speaking, if someone’s never read the comics they would hardly know the extent of Wanda Maximoff’s powers. It was a pleasant surprise with an emotionally satisfying story.

WandaVision can be watched even if you’ve never seen a Marvel film. There are details a superfan could notice but an average viewer can still understand the plot of the show. It adds detail to the cinematic universe while also advancing the story’s end.

The depth of the series appeals to a variety of audiences who may have varying character interests and knowledge levels. 

WandaVision is beautiful. 

Its sitcom setup was a concept never used by the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) before. 

Now, with everything fans learned from WandaVision, including how powerful Wanda Maximoff truly is, bigger theories can be made about the next MCU movie set to come out, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” 

Wanda Maximoff was always known as Wanda, but in WandaVision she held a whole town captive to live with her dead robot husband, fought with her dark magic counterpart Agatha Harkness and became the Scarlet Witch for the first time in the MCU. 

The best shows revolve around  character development while still pushing the wider universe along with the plot.

This is why releasing TV shows alongside the cinematic universe is genius. It never devalues the main story and if anything, the shows help uncover more minor details about it.

“The Mandalorian” is another great example of expanding a universe that has ended its main anthology. While I don’t agree with what Disney did to the final Star Wars trilogy, I do like what it’s doing with its shows.  

One of the most mysterious details in the Star Wars universe was the expressionless mask of a Mandalorian. No one knew much about what was underneath the helmet in The Mandalorian but it was a chance to explore another character. 

The show captivated audiences and it had people swooning over a little green Yoda-like character. This made for good television because nearly everyone was talking about “baby Yoda,” which encouraged other people to watch the show.

The Mandalorian was the most “in-demand” original streaming series of 2020, according to a Dec. 24, 2020 Business Insider article. 

Business Insider is an online media company for financial news. 

The Mandalorian, like WandaVision, drove a minor character’s story while also bringing in characters from its entire cinematic universe. The Mandalorian didn’t devalue the old Star Wars stories, it brought life to the timeline again.

The shows make the minor characters of the bigger universe more recognizable and likable.

Another reason shows are tools for a cinematic universe is the weekly releases.

Viewers are more likely to watch shows that are released weekly as opposed to shows that are released all at once, according to a June 15, 2021 Parrot Analytics article.

Parrot Analytics is a company that developed a metric to rate the number of viewers for shows and their likelihood of attracting subscribers to a streaming service.

Wade Payson-Denney, an insights analyst at Parrot Analytics said in an Axios interview that “by dropping an episode once a week, streamers are more likely to keep subscribers on the platform for longer. . .and stay long-term,” according to a June 15, 2021 Axios article.

When an episode is released once a week, I find myself talking about it longer and more often than I would with a movie.

The shows released on these platforms are exploring their respective worlds, and creating space for new ways of storytelling. Shows aren’t a better option, but having them alongside gives an extra insight that can bring new viewers and please existing fans.