WandaVision’s ending was originally very different
Plus, the episode that was planned but never filmed…
The ninth episode of WandaVision brought Wanda Maximoff and Vision's story to an epic close, for now, at least. But Marvel's first Disney Plus venture was originally meant to end on a very different note, according to director Matt Shakman.
Shakman appeared on Kevin Smith's Fatman Beyond podcast to discuss all things WandaVision. Rather unsurprisingly, Shakman revealed the ongoing pandemic caused a lot of challenges for the post-production team.
“Things were constantly changing and getting re-broken," Shankman said. "The story was changing, especially a lot of the real-world stuff and the finale. There was a lot of experimentation going on and sort of trying different things out. We also at one point had 10 episodes planned and we ended up collapsing a couple, you know just to make the rhythm feel a little bit better."
He added: "Once we wrapped in Atlanta, the pandemic hit and we ended up having months off so then further changes during that we were doing post-production and then ideas would come up and little changes would happen as a result."
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Shakman explained how they had planned for the action-packed, emotional finale (which you can recap in our detailed WandaVision review) to include a subplot where Monica, Darcy and Jimmy Woo would try to find the Darkhold in Agatha's basement. They would also discover that Scratchy the rabbit was actually a demon. Ultimately, the storyline was cut due to lack of time for VFX.
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Many fans had also thought that Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange would be making a cameo, given that Elizabeth Olsen is confirmed for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Despite the lack of Stephen Strange, the WandaVision finale did set up Doctor Strange 2, albeit in a much smaller way, when villain Agatha Harkness states that Wanda is more powerful than the Sorcerer Supreme.
Considering she turns a whole town into an alternate reality based on classic sitcoms without batting an eyelid, we're not surprised.
In an interview with The New York Times, WandaVision writer Jac Schaeffer also revealed she had originally planned an episode that would have completely change the tone of the show, and steered it beyond its sitcom tribute format.
“In my pitch, the ‘rewind’ episode was a CSI episode. I thought, how interesting to do sitcom, sitcom, sitcom, and then shatter that and be in a different genre,” Schaeffer said.
As much as we would have loved to see Wanda and Vision try their hand at solving crime while raising their unusual family, Schaeffer said they ultimately stuck with "aspirational family sitcoms" to find the focus of the show.
Despite all the things that were cut and changed, WandaVision's ninth episode didn't leave us empty-handed. We got a couple of WandaVision post-credit scenes hinting at what's next for Monica Rambeau and showing us how much Wanda is loving her new Scarlet Witch outfit. Which, as Nerdist pointed out on Twitter, was set up from the very beginning in the series' poster.
WandaVision is available to watch on Disney Plus in full. You can sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 for a year now. Want something else to watch? Check out our full TV Guide or visit our Sci-Fi hub for all the latest news.
