WandaVision Showrunner Jac Schaeffer Explains Why Scarlet Witch Stands Out in the MCU

WandaVision is officially in full swing, and the inaugural Marvel Disney+ series has given viewers quite a lot to think about. At the center of the series' genre-bending, sitcom-inspired story has been the story of Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and The Vision (Paul Bettany). Wanda, in particular, has already had a pretty significant role in the series, with Easter eggs and teases to some of her previously-unexplored moments in Marvel Comics canon. In a recent interview with ComicBookMovie, WandaVision showrunner Jac Schaefferspoke about the unique creative challenge that comes with bringing Wanda's story to life, especially compared to her work on the scripts for Captain Marvel and Black Widow.

"With all of the characters in the MCU that I've been lucky enough to write for, my goal is always to understand them as fully as possible and I think with Carol Danvers and Natasha, a lot of that writing - they're so clever and the quips and they're both so confident," Schaeffer explained. "Carol has so much swagger and Natasha can hang with the boys - all of that is so much fun to write and what was different about Wanda and what I kind of hadn't done before - she's quite a serious character. She speaks plainly, there's not a lot of artifice to her and I think, in a little way, there's a bit of a blank slate that made it fun to insert her in a sitcom world, but her seriousness, her gravity is kind of beguiling. I'm used to writing sassier, funnier characters, and to be authentic with her, in her pain and in her trauma, was a really fulfilling experience."

Olsen - who has been portraying Wanda in live-action since 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron - previously revealed that working on the series changed her perception of who Scarlet Witch is for the better.

"It completely broke her whole life and experience open for me," Olsen told ScreenRant in an interview earlier this month. "I think I was always focused on the puzzle piece that I would fulfill in Avengers, and how it's serving our storyline. And this kind of opened up a whole new door for me with her. I feel like I have such ownership, and I feel like I can take her into any situation now. It's really fun to always try and surprise myself with her now. I feel like I have a lot more skills with her. I don't know, there's something that completely opened it all up for me again. It's such a gift as an actor when you're playing the same character."

WandaVision debuts new episodes on Disney+ every Friday. If you haven't signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

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