From start to finish, WandaVision was steeped in mysticism, as Wanda’s magical powers grew and spun out of control. It is, perhaps, the most thorough exploration of how that side of the MCU works, bolstered by the revelation of Agatha Harkness as a figure of immense mystical power herself. And when you’re dealing in that realm, obviously fans are going to expect an appearance by the Master of the Mystic Arts himself, Doctor Strange. With promises of some pretty big cameos, fans thought Strange would almost certainly be conjured up for an episode. According to Kevin Feige, that was actually the plan at one point.
Feige spoke with Rolling Stone and revealed that Benedict Cumberbatch was set to have a role in WandaVision, as her Chaos Magic began to go wild. It also would’ve made sense considering star Elizabeth Olsen is expected to appear in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. However, Feige nixed the idea at the last moment…
“Some people might say, ‘Oh, it would’ve been so cool to see Doctor Strange,’” said Feige. “But it would have taken away from Wanda, which is what we didn’t want to do. We didn’t want the end of the show to be commoditized to go to the next movie — here’s the white guy, ‘Let me show you how power works.’”
Later, Feige described the entire scenario as “a wonderful combination of very dedicated coordination and chaos. Chaos magic.”
The idea they came up with was to have Strange use the commercials seen within the show as ways to communicate with Wanda, only to later show up in-person. Yeah, that does sound cool, but ultimately Feige was probably right. He usually is when it comes to these things. Look at how WandaVision turned out! It’s the most buzzed-over show of the last year. Kinda hard to complain about that.
