The highly anticipated MCU show WandaVision's trailer was recently released and the pilot is set to air in late 2020. centers on Avengers characters Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch and Vision. They became a couple sometime after the events of Captain America: Civil War and remained one through Vision's death in Avengers: Infinity War. The TV show follows the couple's life after the events of Avengers: Endgame.
Vision's death in the previous Avengers movie complicates the plot of this show, which is still mainly shrouded in mystery. But one thing is clear — telling the story through a television show will more easily allow WandaVision to lean hard into the time-traveling and reality-bending that will make the characters' relationship possible after Vision's death. Let's take a look at how WandaVision is using the structure of a television show to its full advantage.
WandaVision appears to take place as a sitcom in multiple timelines. Teasers and stills from the show seem to find Wanda and Vision in the 50s, 70s and 90s, with a few glimpses of shots from a modern day setting. Scenes from those various timelines show the hair and makeup to match. While the show's overall plot is still being kept under wraps, it is safe to say that each of these different timelines include various stories independent of one another.
This format could only be done as a television show. Assuming that it will follow trends of other original streaming platform shows, WandaVision Season 1 will likely end up being somewhere between 8-10 episodes long. This length gives the show plenty of time to play with various timelines and explore how they fit into a grieving Wanda's crumbling reality.
This format is only possible because WandaVision is being told as a television show instead of Marvel's previously preferred movie format. It's possible that the show will feature one or more episodes dedicated to different time period, and a movie simply does not have the time to do that. A film version of WandaVision would have been able to dedicate a few minutes here and there to various flashbacks, as opposed to a series that can produce complete episodes in different settings. Had Marvel Studios decided to make WandaVision a film, it would have have robbed the show of the full story it's capable of telling.
Wanda and Vision are two characters that can alter time, perception and reality, and the show really seems to lend itself to those themes. With a character who has already died, things are bound to get weird on WandaVision — and television is the perfect medium to embrace that weirdness. Now that streaming television has reached cinematic-quality levels, the stigma of jumping from the big to the small screen has been erased. Streaming series are akin to one long movie now, meaning that WandaVision will probably have triple the time that a movie would allow to explore the complicated and trippy relationship between these two.
The success of WandaVision's television format will likely alter the future of the MCU. The show was announced alongside a slate of additional Marvel shows, but all eyes will be on WandaVision, since it is set to be the first to premiere. The studio has already announced that WandaVision will tie into the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel. Marvel Studios is an expert in creating thrilling films and television, and WandaVision is sure to have the same level of quality as it steps into this new and unique medium.