With Elizabeth Olsen having already been confirmed as reprising her role as Wanda Maximoff in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness prior to the show’s premiere, many fans expected to see Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sorcerer Supreme popping up for a cameo in WandaVision to set up the duo’s big screen exploits in the Doctor Strange sequel.
While the Cumberbatch cameo never materialised, Marvel Studios supremo Kevin Feige has confirmed that the actor was originally contracted for an appearance in WandaVision, and now showrunner Jac Schaeffer has offered some insight into why that plan was ultimately shelved during an interview with Rolling Stone:
“The plan when I came on board was that there would, at the end of the series, be a handoff and that Doctor Strange’s participation would amount to essentially a short cameo. So early outlines had varying versions of the two of them [Wanda and Doctor Strange] kind of riding off into the sunset together. And it didn’t feel quite right. We wanted to fulfill Wanda’s agency and autonomy within this particular story. So it did feel a little tacked on.
“Another problem was, if Doctor Strange shows up at just the end, where was he this whole time? I did love writing variations of Doctor Strange, variations on those final beats. It was a pleasure to write for him. There were versions where she was flying past the city limits and then encountered Doctor Strange, that kind of thing. Some people might say, ‘It would’ve been so cool to see Doctor Strange,’ but it would have taken away from Wanda, which is what we didn’t want to do. We didn’t want the end of the show to be commoditized to go to the next movie, or, ‘Here’s the white guy, let me show you how power works.’ That wasn’t what we wanted to say.”
While Doctor Strange was absent from WandaVision, we don’t have too long to wait to see the Sorcerer Supreme and the Scarlet Witch sharing the screen, with Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness slated to release on March 25th 2022.
Marvel Studios’ captivating new series WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany and marks the first series from Marvel Studios streaming exclusively on Disney+. The series is a blend of classic television and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in which Wanda Maximoff and Vision—two super-powered beings living idealized suburban lives—begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems.
WandaVision features a cast that includes Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Paul Bettany (Vision), Kat Dennings (Darcy Lewis), Randall Park (Agent Jimmy Woo), Teyonah Parris (Empire) as Monica Rambeau, and Kathryn Hahn (Bad Moms) as Agatha Harkness.
