Marvel’s superhero movies make billions of dollars. Despite how much WandaVision has dominated pop culture for the past few months (albeit after more than a year and a half without any Marvel Cinematic Universe content), and while it’s probably at least some Disney + subscriptions, the shows don’t and won’t. That makes the movies a priority for Marvel about the shows …but not for Elizabeth Olsen.
In a great interview with Olsen and show creator / lead writer Jac Schaeffer at Variety, the actor who plays the Scarlet Witch, explained how she prioritized WandaVision about the coming Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness movie:
I didn’t know my role in “Doctor Strange” until right before we went back to filming during the pandemic. We had two months to go and we had already filmed most of our show. Really, I didn’t know anything until the moment they threw [“Doctor Strange 2”] for me verbally.
So I tried, as much as I could, to make it have effect on “WandaVision” almost less than I did on “WandaVision”. I think that’s really where the connection is. It’s almost like we’re trying to make sure everything is in line with what we’ve done [on the show]
An actor who values a nine-episode TV series that not only focuses on her character, but given the kind of emotional exploration that the MCU movies have barely touched on, shouldn’t be at all surprising. What’s surprising is how Olsen worked to ensure that her role in the high-profile film was influenced by the events of the significantly less prominent show, as opposed to the other way around.
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It’s hard to say what that meant though, as I suspect Olsen is referring to where Wanda is after her emotional journey of accepting Vision’s death, rather than making sure her vastly enhanced magical powers are recognized in the movie, or something like that. Since Schaeffer confirms that work on the Doctor Strange sequel was long underway when she pitched WandaVision, I would think Wanda’s role had already been defined, even though the details of the story were still being ironed out. Olsen revealed:
There are multiple versions of all [post-credits] tags in the world of Marvel. Good to know, because that was the conversation, whether or not we could hear the boys [while she was reading the Darkhold]I think that has enriched her humanity and has now become more informative about the character she continues to become.
This also sounds like Olsen is referring to how it put her performance in Multiverse of Madness more than the plot, which, while important, will be a much more subtle change for the audience than her vastly enhanced magical powers and awesome outfit.
The interview is a great, informative talk, and well worth it. But if you need any other proof of how much Olsen appreciates WandaVision about- Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, here are her comments about Evan Peters coming on board as the “recast” Pietro:
I didn’t know about the multiverse when we were filming this. So I wouldn’t assume that’s what happened. I thought it was just a smart way to have a Pietro. I didn’t understand the greater plan of the multiverse until I started working on “Multiverse”, or whatever our movie is called, the sequel to “Doctor Strange”!
The movie Elizabeth Olsen didn’t bother to learn the title, despite starring in it, is currently set to premiere in March 2022. Honestly, I can’t blame her.
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