WandaVision Writer Jac Schaeffer Explains That Major MCU Character’s Death

The headline should have made this one obvious but this is your spoiler warning. Spoilers for Episode 4 of WandaVision follow. Major spoilers, right now. The first scene of WandaVision‘s most recent episode, We Interrupt This Program, opened in shocking fashion. While Marvel fans were being blown away by the reversal of what is now referred to as “The Blip,” there was a major detail tossed into the dialogue. Monica Rambeau’s mother, Maria Rambeau, died during the five year span where half of the universe was out of existence. Cancer took Maria’s life but not before she had made a major impact on the world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“That was a tough decision,” WandaVision‘s head writer Jac Schaeffertold ComicBook.com. “I feel very strongly about Maria and her relationship with Monica. It’s so much of a part of her character. But we really wanted to set Monica up, with a rough road really. And we wanted to dig into her character as best we can and be sort of concise with dropping the audience into like where we are in the MCU timeline and letting them know what the tone of this episode is gonna be, that we’re not messing around.” Mission: accomplished. The opening sequence was a lot to take in.

Maria Rambeau appeared in Captain Marvel with Lashana lynch in the part. The film was set in the 90’s and according to the timing laid out in the opening moments of WandaVision‘s fourth episode, Maria died in the MCU’s 2020.

The decision to show people returning to their existence following Hulk’s snap at Avengers HQ in Endgame was almost as heavy, behind the scenes. “As far as setting it, we had a lot of conversations about what returning from The Blip must’ve been like,” Schaeffer explains. “And pretty quickly the idea of a hospital seemed like a real… just a very interesting way to present that and to present the scariness of it and the confusion of it and to get into Monica’s like very visceral, but POV of that moment.”

What was your reaction to WandaVision revealing that Maria Rambeau had died in the five years which passed between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram.

For more Marvel chatter, theories, news, and exclusive insights, subscribe to ComicBook.com’s Phase Zero podcast. New episodes release every Friday on all major podcast platforms.