While Wanda Maximoff’s story in WandaVision is finished, her journey is only just beginning. Elizabeth Olsen, who portrays the Scarlet Witch, is next set to star in 2022’s Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Although the thought of her teaming up with Marvel's New York-based sorcerer on the big screen is getting fans hyped, others still aren’t forgetting what she did on the Disney+ series. Now, Olsen is finally responding to the criticism that has followed since the finale.
In WandaVision, it was revealed that, due to her grief over Vision, Wanda forced an entire town of people into her sitcom fantasy world. Even though the government tried everything they could to stop Wanda, whether it’d be for the right or wrong reasons, she ended up fleeing after coming into her own as Scarlet Witch and was never formally punished for what she did. The end result did not sit well with some fans, and Elizabeth Olsen told Rolling Stone that the aftermath is indeed weighing heavy on the heroine:
She had to get away before the people who have to hold her accountable got there. And where she went is a place that no one could find her. Because she knows that she is going to be held accountable, and I think she has a tremendous amount of guilt.
After the finale released back in March, fans were quick to question whether Scarlet Witch was let off the hook for her actions, and series director Matt Shakman responded. Shakman didn’t think they were letting her off the hook, as he asserted that Wanda ultimately realizes what she’s done. Shakman's mention of the grief Wanda's experienced and the walk of shame she takes at the tail end of the episode line up with Elizabeth Olsen's sentiments, which is that Wanda knows she’s going to be held accountable.
We’ve seen Wanda struggle with the aftermath of Lagos in Captain America: Civil War, which already filled her with guilt. While she’s now feeling like that again, she wasn't completely in her right mind in this instance. Grief can make you do a number of things when you’re not thinking, and that’s what happened with Wanda in WandaVision. She knows what she did but, even though she's hiding out and honing her newfound powers, her actions in the Disney+ show will likely weigh on her in some form in the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel.
There's no telling what the ramifications will be following the finale. Now that Scarlet Witch is officially an entity in the MCU, Wanda's journey could get pretty unpredictable, though the new Doctor Strange movie should give us a better idea of how she'll proceed in her new role. Wanda’s controversial way of handling her grief and loss led to an entire town getting imprisoned, but the post-credits scene of WandaVision teases that there's something much bigger coming her way. It'll be interesting to see what happens, and whether or not Wanda is actually held accountable for her actions.
