The gigantic cinematic machine that is the MCU is about to become much bigger, with many spinoff shows from the franchise set to debut soon on Disney+. While Marvel tv shows are not a new concept, the Disney+ shows are different, in the sense that they are directly connected to the movies, and boast the same level of budget and scope. In a recent interview, MCU showrunner Kevin Feige stated his belief that shows like WandaVision offer fans something the MCU films cannot.
“Streaming is 100 percent the future and where consumers want to watch things. And hopefully they’ll want to watch our longform narrative series. An experience like WandaVision is something you can’t get in a movie. You go to movies for things you can’t get on streaming, and you go to streaming for things you can’t get in a theater. And of course, everything in a theater goes to streaming eventually.”
WandaVision takes place directly after the events of Avengers: Endgame. Shattered over the loss of her android boyfriend Vision, played by Paul Bettany, Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch, played by Elizabeth Olsen, retreats into a false reality of her own making, where Vision is still alive, and the two of them live a blissfully perfect life in the suburbs, modeled after classic television sitcoms. According to Kevin Feige, such a weird and unexpected direction was just where the MCU needed to go creatively.
“My team and I were wondering internally about where to go [after Avengers: Endgame, and what would be the next step that was equally challenging and unexpected. [The notion of extending the brand to television] was an adrenaline boost. Elizabeth and Paul were these amazing actors – who had done amazing things in four movies – but never had a chance to dominate the narrative because there was so much else going on. It felt fun to finally give them a platform to showcase their astounding talent.”
While WandaVision has all the outer appearances of a traditional sitcom, it is still at its core very much an MCU film. The show deals directly with the fallout of Thanos’ invasion of Earth and will have a major and lasting impact on the future of the franchise. Co-executive producer Mary Livanos hinted that viewers will have a hard time telling what parts of the show are real apart from what is not.
“The show is complicated. Because we’re incorporating the rules of the MCU and narrowing in on suburban family sitcoms – but not all the episodes are structurally similar. What’s fun about it is that it leads the audience to ask questions about when this takes place or whether this is a social experiment and if this is an alternative reality and an unraveling of the mystery. We’re excited that the Disney+ platform allows us the creative space to play around.”
Written by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman, WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch, Paul Bettany as Vision, Randall Park as Agent Jimmy Woo, Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, and Kathryn Hahn as Agnes. The series premieres on January 15, 2021 on Disney+. This news comes from Emmys.com.