Fans may have had to resign themselves to the fact that 2020 marks the first year since 2010 that the franchise isn’t delivering any new movies, but just two weeks into January, the MCU will return with a bang when WandaVision premieres on Disney Plus and introduces sweeping changes to the mythology.
The small screen exclusive was confirmed to tie directly into the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness a long time ago, but with Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sorcerer Supreme also boarding Spider-Man 3, it would appear that WandaVision‘s impact on the shared universe could be a lot more far-reaching than initially thought.
In a recent interview, star Paul Bettany admitted that while the show is very much a unique entry into the canon, the six-episode run will also make complete sense within the established narrative rules of the MCU as the story gradually unfolds.
“I think it’s going to make you think about the MCU in a whole brand new way but I do think that it’s absolutely a part of that universe. As each episode unfolds, the audience will be able to peel back layer upon layer until this rather beautiful puzzle box written by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman and shot by Jess Hall will be revealed to everybody and it will make sense. All of the bonkers stuff will be about something.”
WandaVision is a mind and reality-bending fantasy TV series that draws inspiration from classic sitcoms and plays out largely through the eyes of a character in a near-constant state of grief who uses her superpowers to manifest an idyllic life with her dead love, which is certainly a fresh approach to a franchise that’s spawned nearly two dozen movies.
Of course, everything in the MCU is connected in some fashion, but we’ll need to wait until January to find out how WandaVision starts laying out the puzzle pieces for the rest of the studio’s Phase Four output. Based on what we’ve seen so far, though, it isn’t going to be very straightforward or easy to predict, especially with the multiverse set to change everything as we know it.