Elizabeth Olsen Wanted More Time Between WandaVision & Doctor Strange 2

With the success of WandaVision, Elizabeth Olsen has taken a much more prominent role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, however the actress has revealed that she would have liked more time off between wrapping her Disney+ show and filming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Although Olsen joined the MCU as Wanda Maximoff in 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron, she first appeared in a brief post-credit scene at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier while still being experimented on by HYDRA alongside her brother Pietro (Aaron Taylor Johnson). Since then, she has reprised the roles several time in both Infinity War and Endgame, as well as being part of Captain America's rebellious team in Captain America: Civil War.

Despite being one of the most powerful members of the Avengers, Olsen has only recently taken center stage in WandaVision on Disney+. The series saw Wanda craft her own distorted sitcom based reality as she struggled to handle the grief of losing Vision (Paul Bettany) during the events of Infinity War. By the end, she had seemingly accepted her grief and also awakened to full power of the chaos magic that dwelled within her, finally embracing the title of Scarlet Witch. With these new powers in tow, Olsen is set to join Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange in Doctor Strange 2 although very little is known about the film's plot.

Speaking to Variety alongside Lovecraft Country's Jurnee Smollett about their recent Emmy nominations, Olsen revealed that she had no real time off between appearances as Wanda. She said filming on WandaVision wrapped "on a Wednesday and [I] flew to London on a Friday to continue playing this part [in Doctor Strange 2]". The actress added that she would have like more time off to fully "[get] out of the [WandaVision] mindset … because they were totally different utilizations of the character". You read Olsen's full statement below:

"I wrapped WandaVision on a Wednesday and flew to London on a Friday to continue playing this part [in Doctor Strange 2]. I could have used getting out of the mindset, though, because they were totally different utilizations of the character and people would have had more time to understand WandaVision had we not just wrapped. And so there's just a lot of, 'We covered this in WandaVision…' It's bigger than me, there's lots of threads that are continuing on after me that I'm not aware of, and so it's always about, 'What can I get from this journey with this character that maybe I haven’t tapped into yet with her?'"

Scarlet Witch uses her powers in WandaVision.

Jumping from one sizeable project to another certainly sounds like a gargantuan undertaking, so it's understandable that Olsen would want to take some time to herself between projects. As the actress notes, her character will undoubtedly have been utilized in different ways, especially if she filmed Doctor Strange 2 before WandaVision even aired. This would likely have made for a jarring switch in character. Where WandaVision saw Wanda coming to terms with her grief and learning to move on, it's unclear how far this will be apparent in the Doctor Strange sequel, or whether there will be a return to the character's old ways that runs counterintuitive to the series.

Olsen has previously commented that it felt strange going from WandaVision to Doctor Strange 2, possibly in terms of tone as the upcoming film is set to feature horror elements, whereas WandaVision was steeped in comedy. Mostly though, it seems to have been in terms of Wanda as a character. This certainly makes sense if Olsen filmed the two projects back to back, and was subsequently expected to bring a very different version of Wanda to the film than the one she had grown accustomed to at the end of WandaVision. Hopefully though, this won't affect her portrayal of Scarlet Witch too much. Fans have been excited to see what's in store next for Wanda every since her series wrapped up back in March. It will certainly be interesting to see how this more powerful version interacts with Doctor Strange. Sadly though, fans will just have to wait a little bit longer to find out as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is not due for release until March 2022.

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Source: Variety