by Elizabeth Olsen, the film’s star, was concerned that WandaVision, which the MCU planned to launch in 2021, would fail.
WandaVision, which launched Phase 4 of the MCU, was far from a surefire success for Marvel Studios, especially given that it signalled the franchise’s return to the public after an 18-month pandemic-caused delay.
Olsen and Paul Bettany’s involvement in the show’s phenomenal success on Disney+ helped the MCU achieve its greatest level of critical acclaim to date, and WandaVision was honoured with the MCU’s first Emmy honours.
Olsen and Paul Bettany’s involvement in the show’s phenomenal success on Disney+ helped the MCU achieve its greatest level of critical acclaim to date, and WandaVision was honoured with the MCU’s first Emmy honours.
Although WandaVision’s decision to revive the MCU was historic, there was no assurance that it would reach that level.
Fears of Elizabeth Olsen for WandaVision
Elizabeth Olsen, the star of WandaVision, made an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to discuss her issues with WandaVision before its release.
Colbert reflected on their last conversation before WandaVision debuted on Disney+, praising the show for “[breaking] form in an interesting way”and tackling such difficult and sensitive material for Wanda Maximoff and Vision:
“Last time you were here, we hadn’t seen ‘WandaVision’ yet. What an extraordinary show that was. You’ve done a lot of Marvel stuff, and there’s been a lot of these Marvel shows, but that really broke form in an interesting way, and it has such a beautiful, and satisfying, and heartbroken emotional journey for your character, and, of course, for Vision as well.”
When asked if she anticipated the show’s popularity, Olsen thought back to her co-star Paul Bettany’s description of it as “the forgotten cousin to the Marvel universe,” contrasting it with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s international and action-packed adventures:
“We just felt like… Paul kept calling us the forgotten cousin to the Marvel universe. He just felt like we were some annoying cousin that people through in the corner… and I think Anthony Mackie and Sebastian (Stan) were traveling all over the world and blowing things up. And Paul and I were just like, doing sitcom acting in a corner. And, obviously, our amazing cast and crew.”
Olsen also acknowledged that although while everyone on the team had a great time working on the show, they were concerned when it first aired that “it might potentially ruin [them] all”:
“But, we loved what we were doing. We had so much fun doing it. But we really felt like it was either going to– it might potentially ruin us all. (laughs) I think that’s the stuff that feels the most fun to make, is when you feel like you could fail at any second.”
Head writer Jac Schaeffer dived into her top concerns while creating the show in an interview with Deseret News shortly after WandaVision debuted on Disney+.
She wanted to create something that she and her crew would be proud of and more than anything, she hoped that Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige would like the finished product:
“In the actual doing the show. I felt through most of the process very insulated from those kinds of pressures. The pressure was really mostly like — will Kevin like it? That was my day to day — will Kevin like it? And then, will I like it? Will I be proud of it? Will my team be proud of it? Are we putting something into the world that makes the world a better place, right? Those are the larger questions that I am asking myself day to day. But yeah, as it got close to actually premiering, I started to panic sure, but so far it seems like it’s going OK.”
In May 2022, during the promotional tour for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: The Return of Doctor Strange, Olsen discussed the possibility of Avengers: Endgame being a financial failure with Jimmy Fallon.
Fallon: “‘Avengers: Endgame’ is one of the biggest movies in the history of the world. And you were like, ‘Here we go. We got our first flop.'”
Olsen: “I was like, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know about this one.’ Yeah. And so, I just decided I don’t want to put myself through that experience again. So I’ll see [‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’] at some point.”
WandaVision Star Overcame Flopping Fears
Even after accounting for the poor reviews that many of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga projects received, WandaVision outperformed expectations for most individuals, including Elizabeth Olsen.
This series gave the MCU something that was new and interesting while presenting a narrative that resonated with viewers since it followed a framework that was so distinct from anything that came before or after it, especially with its sitcom-style storytelling approach.
Olsen and Paul Bettany’s work together will only last for one season, but the series has solidified its position in MCU history as one of Marvel Studios’ biggest successes to yet.
While fans wait to find out when Olsen herself will return in that or another series, the success of the original series has already led to the greenlighting of a spin-off with Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha: Coven of Chaos.
Disney+ is currently streaming WandaVision.
