"One World, One People" is the sixth episode and series finale of the American television miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, based on Marvel Comics featuring the characters Sam Wilson / Falcon and Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier. It follows the pair as they fight the anti-nationalist Flag Smashers. The episode is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. It was written by head writer Malcolm Spellman and Josef Sawyer, and directed by Kari Skogland.
Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan reprise their respective roles as Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes from the film series, with Emily VanCamp, Wyatt Russell, Erin Kellyman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Danny Ramirez, Georges St-Pierre, Adepero Oduye, and Daniel Brühl also starring. Development began by October 2018, with Spellman hired to serve as head writer of the series. Skogland joined in May 2019. The episode sees Wilson accept the mantle of Captain America and wear a new costume, with the series' title changing to Captain America and the Winter Soldier in the end credits. Filming took place at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, with location filming in the Atlanta metropolitan area and in Prague.
"One World, One People" was released on the streaming service Disney+ on April 23, 2021. Viewership was estimated to be slightly lower than the previous week, and the episode received mixed reviews. The acting, visuals, and Wilson's character arc were praised, but it was deemed to be weaker than the previous episodes and some felt it was an unsatisfying conclusion with an abrupt characterization shift for John Walker (Russell). The episode received a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award nomination for its sound editing.
Plot Wearing his new Captain America suit from the Wakandans, Sam Wilson flies to New York City to save the Global Repatriation Council (GRC) from the Flag Smashers' attack. He is joined by Bucky Barnes and Sharon Carter. While Wilson fights Georges Batroc, the Flag Smashers takes GRC representatives as hostages. Wilson saves some hostages from a helicopter while Barnes intercepts trucks with another group. Karli Morgenthau sets a vehicle on fire to distract Barnes and escape, but John Walker intervenes. Barnes frees the burning truck's hostages and helps Walker in battling the Flag Smashers, but is subdued. Morgenthau drives the remaining truck off a ledge, but Walker chooses to save the truck rather than chase her. Morgenthau and the remaining Flag Smashers attack him and they all fall to the ground, but Wilson arrives and saves the truck.
As the hostages are freed, Batroc arrives and drops smoke grenades, allowing the Flag Smashers to flee. Carter confronts Morgenthau and reveals that she is the Power Broker, and is angry at Morgenthau's betrayal. Batroc attempts to blackmail Carter, but she kills him. Wilson attempts to reason with Morgenthau, but she refuses to listen and fights him, before being shot by Carter when she has Wilson at gunpoint. Before dying, a tearful Morgenthau apologizes to Wilson. After the attack, Wilson convinces the GRC to postpone a vote that would force the relocation of people displaced by the Blip who Morgenthau died fighting for. He implores them to instead make efforts to help those people.
The remaining Super Soldier Serum-enhanced Flag Smashers are sent to the Raft prison, but are killed when their transport vehicle is bombed by Helmut Zemo's butler Oeznik. Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine gives Walker a new suit and dubs him a "U.S. Agent". Wilson takes Isaiah Bradley and his grandson Eli to the Smithsonian's Captain America exhibit which now features a statue of Bradley. Barnes makes amends with his friend, Yori Nakajima, telling him that he killed his son while he was the Winter Soldier. Barnes crosses off every other name on his list of people who needed closure from him, and joins Wilson in Louisiana for a celebratory cookout.
In a mid-credits scene, Carter is pardoned by the United States government and reinstated to her former position in the CIA. She makes a phone call, informing someone that she has access to the government's secrets.
Production Development By October 2018, Marvel Studios was developing a limited series starring Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson / Falcon and Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films. Malcolm Spellman was hired as head writer of the series, which was announced as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in April 2019. Spellman modeled the series after buddy films that deal with race, such as 48 Hrs. (1982), The Defiant Ones (1958), Lethal Weapon (1987), and Rush Hour (1998). Kari Skogland was hired to direct the miniseries a month later, and executive produced alongside Spellman and Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Nate Moore. The sixth episode, titled "One World, One People", was written by Spellman and Josef Sawyer.
Writing Though the episode takes place mainly in New York City, no other heroes based in the city, such as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, appear, since any such cameo appearance would not have belonged or fit organically to the story. While many described John Walker's ending as "getting off easy", Spellman did not believe this was the case, noting how his career had been destroyed and for someone in the military, "to get anything other than an honorable discharge, that's a big deal". Executive producer Nate Moore said that the team did not choose to make Walker the main antagonist of the episode, but have him dispose of his fake shield to instead save the Global Repatriation Council (GRC) members from the Flag Smashers. He felt that while Walker wasn't a complete antagonist, he also did not earn complete redemption. As they had future plans for the character, stating that he "starts as somebody who the institutions would tell you is the best of the best. And having him come to an actual moral dark night of the soul and come out the other side a different person is actually really interesting". Co-executive producer Zoie Nagelhout discussed why Sharon Carter's identity as the Power Broker was kept from Wilson and Barnes, saying Carter's larger conflict and mission did not involve them so "it wasn't necessary to have to complicate her relationship with" them. Nagelhout and the writers believed it was more interesting for Carter to continue to have that duality.
Spellman worked with Mackie on the speech Wilson gives to the GRC members, with Mackie suggesting Wilson talk to one member instead of the television cameras so it was less about giving a speech and more about trying to convince one person. Spellman said that "blood, sweat and tears" went into the creation of the scene. The team wanted to show a human moment as well as the superpower of the new Captain America, which "as a Black man, [Wilson] is forged in an identity that is rooted around struggle". The mission statement was for Wilson to acknowledge the new reality of what it meant to be the new Captain America without sugar-coating it. Spellman said nothing was cut from the speech and that the moment was always planned, no matter how much they adjusted the series. He also noted that Wilson's establishment of Isaiah Bradley's Smithsonian honor was "everything he had to pull", as he felt that Bradley would never receive proper reparations and that it was not feasible "in any universe". Spellman enjoyed the line in which Bradley told Wilson that he's no "Malcolm, Mandela, or Martin", and credited it to the writers' room consisting of Black people. Ultimately, he knew that Wilson could not contest Bradley's notion. When discussing Barnes's character journey and his acknowledgement of Wilson's initial hesitance to accept his role as Captain America due to his identity as a Black man, Spellman ultimately wanted the scene to demonstrate Barnes's ability to discuss it "matter-of-factly to Sam because he's never been mentally present in an era long enough to feel like he might be complicit in some of what Sam's struggled against". Following initial plans to debut Wilson's Captain America costume in "Truth", the creative team instead opted to first feature it while he was saving GRC members on the ground and then flying into the building. However, since that was also deemed as being implausible, they decided to simply introduce it in the building.
Speaking about the mid-credits scene, Spellman said that from it, the audience would know "exactly what doors just got opened to an expanded universe", with VanCamp noting Carter "has a much bigger plan and it's not for the greater good like it used to be". Skogland tried moving the scene to different parts of the episode, but returned to keeping it as the mid-credits scene to cement the reveal of Carter as the Power Broker. Since Carter now "lives in a middle ground that is really compelling", Nagelhout hoped there would be further opportunities to continue to explore the character and "what shades of gray she might drift between".
Title change
The end of the episode changes the series' title to Captain America and the Winter Soldier. Skogland noted there was "a lot of conversation" in regards to changing the title, such as where it would be placed in the episode, its subtlety, and its design; she believed Feige had suggested it appear at the end of the episode. Though "Winter Soldier" is retained in the new title, Spellman believed Barnes had "slayed that dragon", and had "shed the burden of the Winter Soldier". Arguing that the character found a family with the Wilsons, and felt what it was like to be a hero for the first time, believing Barnes was "now free to become something amazing". Spellman hoped the audience would disregard how the title card appeared "as being an indicator of a commitment from Marvel". A version of the title was made to say "Captain America and the White Wolf" to reflect Barnes' character development in the series, but Spellman believed Marvel wanted to retain some of the original title. He argued that if both names were altered it would not have had the intended emotional impact that he was hoping for, as it would have been too detached from the original.
Casting The episode stars Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Captain America, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier, Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter / Power Broker, Wyatt Russell as John Walker / U.S. Agent, Erin Kellyman as Karli Morgenthau, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres, Georges St-Pierre as Georges Batroc, Adepero Oduye as Sarah Wilson, and Daniel Brühl as Helmut Zemo. Also appearing are Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley, Amy Aquino as Christina Raynor, Desmond Chiam as Dovich, Dani Deetee as Gigi, Indya Bussey as DeeDee, Renes Rivera as Lennox, Tyler Dean Flores as Diego, Elijah Richardson as Eli Bradley, Chase River McGhee as Cass, Aaron Haynes as AJ, Ken Takemoto as Yori, Miki Ishikawa as Leah, Rebecca Lines as Atwood, Jane Rumbaua as Ayla, Salem Murphy as Lacont, Nicholas Pryor as Oeznik, and Gabrielle Byndloss as Olivia Walker.
Design The Captain America exhibit features original props from previous MCU films that were brought out of storage. The floating light displays were inspired by modern fashion shows and repurposed light boxes from the series' Madripoor sets. The sculpture of Isaiah Bradley was created for the series. Wilson's entrance as Captain America included white lights as costume designer Michael Crow stated that it added "a level of hope and light" to the ending of the series.
Filming