Director Peyton Reed teases scope of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: 'We went big — and we also went small'

Big things are happening in small packages at San Diego Comic-Con!

While visiting the EW video studio, the cast and director of Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania teased the upcoming third film in the Ant-Man trilogy, laying out their goals for the movie.

"We were thrilled to get to do a third Ant-Man movie and do a trilogy," director Peyton Reed tells EW. "And we knew if we were going to do that we wanted to do some things differently. We really wanted to take a hard left turn and make a movie that was even more epic, but still progress the story of these family dynamics and everything that's going on between Scott and Hope and Cassie."

"Cassie is now 18 years old and maybe Scott doesn't quite know how to relate to her as an adult because he lost those five years because of the events of Endgame," Reed continues. "And we also knew that we wanted to put our heroes up against a very, very formidable opponent. I grew up reading the comics and I knew the character of Kang the Conqueror, who's one of the big, big bad characters in the comics, so to be able to put up our heroes against Kang the Conqueror was a huge thing for us. We went big and we also went small."

Paul Rudd, who stars as Scott Lang, a.k.a. Ant-Man, echoes his excitement for the film's broader scope. "It's such a fun part to play and I've loved every time I've got to play Scott. We knew the scope of this thing was going to be different; we're going up against Kang, which adds in a whole other element. Cassie is now older. There are things we got to explore and re-live from the first two films, but this was going to be a whole new thing — and it felt like it shooting it."

When it came to breaking down those family dynamics, both Evangeline Lilly (Hope) and Kathryn Newton (Cassie) are excited to jump in. Lilly likens Hope to the Grinch, noting that her heart has grown three sizes over the course of these films. Newton further stresses the challenges of Scott and Cassie finding common ground. "Cassie is different," she says. "We've seen her five years later. She hasn't seen her dad in a while. She's a little more grown-up. He's kind of just a mess. She doesn't know much. She's just like me. She's messing up all the time. She loves her dad. She does, she doesn't admit it but she does, and I think that's at the heart of it and I hope people can feel that."

On Saturday, Marvel showcased the first footage from the film to con-goers in Hall H. It showed Scott Lang facing off against Kang (Jonathan Majors), who first appeared in Loki last summer. It also offered a glimpse of the quantum realm, where a lot of the film takes place.

"We finally get to spend some time in the quantum realm," director Peyton Reed said at the presentation. "We have a lot in store for these characters in this movie, and we're going to meet a lot of new characters in this movie and explore the quantum realm, which is not always what you think it is, so we're really really excited to bring it to life."

The footage also revealed that, in the time since we last saw Scott, he's written a book about his adventures as an Avenger, called Look Out for the Little Guy. But his daughter Cassie is unimpressed. Eventually, all of them — Scott, Cassie, Hope, Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Hank (Michael Douglas) — get sucked into the quantum realm.

Watch the video above for more. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is currently scheduled for release on July 28, 2023.

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