Marvel fans may felt cheated when WandaVision’s Doctor Strange connection wasn’t addressed. This was especially pressing given Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff’s confirmed appearance in the sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Yet, there may have been some good reasons for Marvel’s favorite mystic to not have popped up. In fact, recent interview revealed some new details about Doctor Strange’s scrapped WandaVision cameo.
WandaVision mastermind Jac Schaeffer spilled some never-before-heard secrets from the Disney+ series. Given the connection to the Doctor Strange sequel, viewers were hoping the character would pop up at some point. But things didn’t work out that way. The WandaVision writer said about the proposed Doctor Strange cameo:
The plan when I came on board was that there would, at the end of the series, be a handoff, and that Dr. Strange’s participation would amount to essentially a short cameo. So early outlines had varying versions of the two of them [Wanda and Dr. Strange] kind of riding off into the sunset together. And it didn’t feel quite right. We wanted to fulfill Wanda’s agency and autonomy within this particular story. So, it did feel a little tacked on.
Given Schaeffer’s words and the series’ storyline, it was probably only right to focus more on Wanda as an individual rather than being attached to another male character, as he mentioned in his comments to Rolling Stone. Being seen with Doctor Strange after losing Vision could’ve come off as disingenuous. Personally, I feel Wanda needed to have her own space after coming to terms with Vision’s passing. Plus, fans wouldn’t have gotten Wanda’s ominous ending leading into Doctor Strange 2 either if things had played out differently.
While speaking with the outlet, the WandaVision creator gave some insight into why Doctor Strange never appeared in the miniseries. Jac Schaeffer did hint at possible hurdles associated with bringing him in. Schaeffer also said about possible Doctor Strange scenarios:
Another problem was, if Dr. Strange shows up at just the end, where was he this whole time? I did love writing variations of Dr. Strange, variations on those final beats. It was a pleasure to write for him. There were versions where she was flying past the city limits and then encountered Dr. Strange, that kind of thing.
Schaffer also mentioned that Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange could’ve popped up in another way. She stated the infamous Nexus commercial from Episode 7 almost featured a cameo from Marvel’s favorite mystic. But Schaeffer revealed the idea was scrapped as it didn’t fit in with Wanda’s subconscious visions. So, Doctor Strange’s magic couldn’t quite fit within Wanda Maximoff’s magical made-up world.
To me, giving Wanda Maximoff some autonomy was the right move going into the Doctor Strange sequel. Still, it's worth pointing out WandaVision might not be the only Disney+ series connected to the sequel. With that said, MCU fans will have to wait until Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness arrives in theaters on Mar. 25, 2022 to see all those connections.
