The story of
WandaVision‘s main character, Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch (played by Elizabeth Olsen), is set to continue in 2022’s
Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, but the two projects were almost linked much more directly. As
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige reveals in
Rolling Stone‘s upcoming, extensive oral history of
WandaVision, Marvel struck a deal with
Benedict Cumberbatch to appear in the final episode of the show as Dr. Strange. But late in the process, they wrote him out.
“Some people might say, ‘Oh, it would’ve been so cool to see Dr. Strange,’” says Feige. “But it would have taken away from Wanda, which is what we didn’t want to do. We didn’t want the end of the show to be commoditized to go to the next movie — here’s the white guy, ‘Let me show you how power works.’” That meant the Dr. Strange movie, too, had to be rewritten. In the end, Feige says, Marvel’s process is “a wonderful combination of very dedicated coordination, and chaos. Chaos magic.” At one point, back when Dr. Strange was supposed to be part of the story, the in-universe commercials were going to be messages from Strange to Wanda, and there was also talk of having Cumberbatch appear in one of the ads, head writer Jac Schaeffer says.