WandaVision Producer Mary Livanos Shares Emotional Reason For Bringing in Evan Peters

WandaVision has come to an end, and fans were pretty pleased with how the show concluded its eight-episode run. However, some folks were a little upset with the finale’s Evan Peters reveal. Peters showed up as Wanda’s brother in the show’s fifth episode and many people assumed that his presence meant the introduction of the multiverse and that Peters was playing the same Quicksilver he portrayed in the X-Men films. However, the final episode revealed that Peters was actually playing a man named Ralph Bohner, who was being manipulated by Agatha Harkness. While some folks feel like the character was reduced to a boner joke, the creators behind the show have a great explanation for the red herring. Producer Mary Livanos recently spoke to ComicBook.com about the show, and we asked if Ralph was always the plan for Peters.

“The idea of bringing Evan into the universe as this ‘Quicksilver’ really presented itself when we were figuring out Agatha’s plot. Because the villain plot really was to make Wanda feel unsure about her power. At this point in Wanda’s sort of grieving process, we wanted her to be unsure about what she was capable of, about what she was doing, was her subconscious acting out again? We wanted Wanda to believe that her powers could be on the fritz,” Livanos explained.

She continued, “In our studies of grief and grieving, a side effect that we found is when you lose someone, the details of memory recall can get fuzzy. So the idea that she kind of forgot exactly what her brother’s face looked like, and perhaps her powers have been acting out again, we found really compelling. And we wanted the audience to be as confounded as Wanda and so Evan was the obvious choice for that. Though we knew that we wanted to sort of upend expectations. And so when we brought Evan in and explained exactly what the character was and where he ends up as Ralph, Evan was game. And we’re so grateful for that.”

Recently, WandaVision‘s head writer, Jac Schaeffer, was asked if there was a chance Peters could show up again in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“What I can say is that I think Evan Peters did an incredible job with this role and I found it to be such a joy to both work with him and watch him on screen, and you know, as a fan, I’m interested to see whatever he does next,” Schaeffer told Deadline. She also clarified that, yes, Peters was actually Ralph Bohner, Agnes’ supposed “husband” and actual hostage.

“The idea is that Agatha came to town and took over the neighbor’s house in order to sort of be undercover, and there happened to be a young man named Ralph Bohner who was already living in Westview. In the writers’ room, we enjoyed writing Agatha’s sense of humor, and so the idea that she would actually be talking about her hostage through the entirety of the series really tickled us,” Schaeffer shared.

Watch WandaVision on Disney+.

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