WandaVision Began Development Just Before Avengers: Infinity War's Release

WandaVision has been in the works since before Avengers: Infinity War hit theaters in 2018. Infinity War was the first part of a culmination of over a decade of storytelling and was pivotal for WandaVision's titular characters. At the beginning of the film, the pair are together, leaving Steve Rogers' group to forge their own path and explore their relationship. They are sucked back into saving the world, though, when Thanos threatens the universe.

Vision's tragic death at the end of Avengers: Infinity War (at Wanda's hands) was a sorrowful bookend to their love story. It seems that that love story isn't quite over yet. There has been no word about how Vision reappears in the upcoming Disney+ series, but it has been heavily hinted that he is a figment of her imagination. One of the underlying plots going into WandaVision is Wanda's fragile emotional state, which was negatively impacted by Vision's death.

In an interview with SR, MCU mastermind Kevin Feige says that WandaVision has been in the works since before Avengers: Infinity War's release. Conversations began with Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany, Wanda and Vision, respectively, during the press junket for Avengers: Infinity War. Feige says WandaVision was one of the first ideas for a series set exclusively at Disney+. He details how they came up with the sitcom influences for the series and the stories they still wanted to tell centered around the two characters.

Screen Rant: How long was this WandaVision series been in development, and what was the process like coming up with the story?

Kevin Feige: It's been almost three years now since we had a discussion with [Elizabeth] and Paul, I think during the junket of Infinity War, that we had this idea. Bob Iger had come to us and said they were doing a streaming service, they wanted us to start working on on programs for it, and this was one of the first ideas.

Mainly just because there was so much Wanda and Vision stories to tell, and we've only scratched the surface with that relationship. Also because Paul and Elizabeth are so spectacular, we knew they could carry anything, and we wanted to work with them more and see more of what they could bring to this world - which is an astounding amount.

We've had this idea of sitcoms, of tapping into this this love of sitcoms that a lot of us at Marvel Studios had. I spent much of my childhood watching television, watching Nick at Nite, and now MeTV. TCM or MeTV is what I flip between if I'm ever watching television. I sort of was delving into my own psyche of why is that the case, and what what is so comforting about these dated shows. And usually, the answer is the spectacular writing on The Dick Van Dyke Show, or the family connections of The Brady Bunch. The simplicity of how there's a problem at the beginning of the episode, and 30 minutes later, there's a solution and you move on. How comforting is that, and what would that mean to somebody who has gone through traumatic things, like all of us have and like the characters in our movies had.

And it wasn't until Mary Livanos, our executive producer, spoke with Jac Schaeffer -because you might imagine, we did have some meetings where people were like, "Marvel sitcoms? What are you guys talking about?" By the way, that's happened to us going back to pitching Iron Man to people. The list of people that have passed is very, very long on all of our projects, because it's hard to see something until you actually make it. Thankfully, Jac Schaeffer saw it, and was able to take a lot of the very high-level concepts we had and turn it into a structured narrative.

Then Matt Shakman, who between giant Game of Thrones episodes and growing up on sitcom sets as a child actor, was made to do this. I sort of couldn't believe it. We'd met with Matt a handful of times in the past after his big episodes to try to find something. I did not know about his sitcom past until he came in and pitched on this, and I think he might have brought pictures of some of his early work. I couldn't believe that here was a filmmaker that was destined, perhaps, to do this mashup.

Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany in WandaVision

Planning for the MCU happens years and years in advance, so it's no surprise to hear that the groundwork for WandaVision was worked out some time ago. They may not have known that WandaVision would be kicking off their biggest phase yet, but it's clear that Wanda and Vision's story was a gateway to a larger plan. Wanda is set to appear in the Doctor Strange sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and that title alone hints at the massive things to come for the MCU.

By the time the Doctor Strange sequel rolls around, fans will have already seen Spider-Man 3, shaping up to be another crucial Phase 4 film. If all the rumors are true, the Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel will be an integral next step that leads to a more extensive exploration of the Multiverse. Of course, Feige is keeping things close to the chest, but when WandaVision finally hits screens on January 15, fans will begin to get an idea of what's in store for the future of the MCU.

More: Marvel Movies To Watch Before WandaVision