Marvel Star Elizabeth Olsen Calls WandaVision a “Natural Progression” Into Doctor Strange 2

Elizabeth Olsen says Marvel Studios series WandaVision is a "natural progression" into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where her Wanda Maximoff partners with sorcerer Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). Marvel chief creative officer and producer Kevin Feige was the first to reveal that WandaVision would directly set up the Sam Raimi-directed Doctor Strange sequel, forming a loose trilogy with the untitled Spider-Man threequel known as Homecoming 3. As the Marvel Cinematic Universe delves deeper into the Multiverse after the events of Avengers: Endgame, launching Phase Four of the franchise with the reality-bending WandaVision, the studio's first original series is an organic prequel to Homecoming 3 and Doctor Strange 2:

"There's never much we can talk about in Marvel, but I do think WandaVision is a natural progression into what happens in Doctor Strange 2," Olsen told Good Morning America about the sequel currently on a filming hiatus in England. "I think Kevin Feige is doing a really amazing job intertwining the television format with the films so that we can tell more interesting stories moving forward."

The Tom Hiddleston-starring Loki is another Disney+ series with a connection to Multiverse of Madness, where the return of an old friend-turned-enemy causes Strange to unleash an unspeakable evil.

WandaVision is so tethered to Homecoming 3 and Multiverse of Madness that series director Matt Shakman consulted with Spider-Man director Jon Watts and Doctor Strange's Raimi on the trippy television part of the MCU puzzle.

"There is conversation among filmmakers, which I think is great," Shakman told ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview. "I mean, we are all part of this interconnected universe. I admire the heck out of everybody who has worked in Marvel before and are working on Marvel things right now. It's not just the movies. It's also the other Disney+ shows that we're interacting with."

For the first time, the television side of the MCU will interlink with the feature film side of the franchise; characters will jump from one format to the other, some bound by ongoing plot threads that will continue both in theaters and on Disney+.

As for the connections setting up Homecoming 3 and Strange 2, Shakman said, "I think it's important for every successful movie or TV show to feel when you get to the end that it [that] the ending is incredibly surprising, but also totally inevitable. If you don't do that, I don't think you've told your story well. And I think that's exactly what we're trying to do. That when you get to the end, you are like, 'Wow.' But then you go, 'Ah.'"

WandaVision comes to Disney+ with a two-episode premiere at midnight on Friday, January 15.

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