When WandaVision was released on Disney+, it went to places that no other Marvel Cinematic Universe project had gone before. Going into Phase 4, the question on viewers' minds was where the franchise could go after Thanos' defeat in Avengers: Endgame. Thanks to WandaVision, the answer was clear: the MCU was going to get a lot riskier and even more strange.
WandaVision helped establish a stronger magical presence with the inclusion of Agatha Harkness, one of the first major MCU characters to be a full-fledged witch. Wanda's abilities also grew, with her realizing her full potential as the powerful Scarlet Witch. However, on top of the show's massive amount of worldbuilding, an interview with Kevin Feige revealed the series almost featured a cameo by the Sorcerer Supreme himself, Doctor Strange.
What Doctor Strange's WandaVision Role Was Planned to Be
WandaVision's episodic structure through decades of television was a result of Wanda creating the Hex. This ensured that anything that transpired within the Hex's boundaries had to fit the narrative and tone of the decade that episode was in. It also meant that all major ties to the larger MCU were relegated into commercials that mostly tied back to Wanda's past, including the bomb that killed her parents and the Lagos incident from Captain America: Civil War. According to the interview, Doctor Strange was originally meant to be the creator of these commercials and was using them as a way to try to communicate with Wanda inside the Hex.
Episodes 6 and 7 contained remnants of this idea, with "All-New Halloween Spooktakular's" Yo-Magic yogurt commercial seeming like Strange's attempt to warn Wanda not to trust the Fake Pietro and that Agatha was trying to drain her magic. The next episode, "Breaking the Fourth Wall," had a commercial for an anti-depressant called Nexus that would've featured a full-on cameo from Strange. The details were sparse, but his appearance could've been meant to tell her that she was a Nexus Being, an individual that can alter the future and probability.
How Doctor Strange's Involvement Alters WandaVision's Meta Commercials
Had Strange appeared in WandaVision, the impact and narrative built around the commercials could've taken a hit. Since the Hex was a massive coping mechanism to help Wanda overcome her grief, the early commercials felt like the truth about her pain slowly seeping out. With commercials nodding to her time as a Hydra experiment and the mistakes of her past, these stood in stark contrast to the false reality Wanda worked so hard to maintain.
Furthermore, the later commercials about Yo-Magic and Nexus fit perfectly into the idea that Wanda had immense power that she couldn't control. Deep down, she knew that the world she created was exceeding her conscious skills, and commercials like Nexus acted like a subconscious cry for help. The line, "Consult your doctor," feels more like an attempt to get herself to seek help from Strange in the future. Had Strange been controlling the commercials the whole time, the meta-narrative behind them would have been an external message from Strange telling Wanda about herself, rather than a reflection of Wanda's internal struggle.
Why Marvel Was Right to Cut Doctor Strange From WandaVision
In the end, Feige believed that the inclusion of Doctor Strange might take away from the impact of Wanda's story. The decision to cut his role turned out to be the best one for the series and its main character. In the interview, Feige stated: "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.'" Ultimately, his concerns were justified as, over the course of its nine episodes, Wanda was allowed to shine in a way she never had before.
After enduring the five stages of grief, Wanda was finally able to accept her destiny and become the Scarlet Witch. Though she still has a lot to learn in order to control her power, she's in a better place in terms of her mental health and can build her new abilities on a stable foundation. Without Doctor Strange, Wanda Maximoff was able to develop as a character, and her series held its own without being reduced to a setup for the next Marvel project.
Written by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman, WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, Paul Bettany as Vision, Randall Park as Agent Jimmy Woo, Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Kathryn Hahn as Agnes/Agatha Harkness. The series is available to stream on Disney+.