Elizabeth Olsen teases a comics-accurate Scarlet Witch in WandaVision

WandaVision will explore mental health issues as it delves the Scarlet Witch’s psyche. Also, expect some familiar faces in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

With movies essentially on hold until 2021, WandaVision is a bright spot for Marvel fans who have spent this year waiting for new content. Set up like a time-hopping sitcom, the series looks all kinds of wacky and fun, but according to lead actress Elizabeth Olsen, it will also tackle darker, more serious storylines.

In an interview with The New York Times, Olsen was able to share some details about the upcoming Disney+ series, and even if she couldn’t get into exactly what’s going on with Vision, she did tease a deeper look at the Scarlet Witch, which is the moniker her character commonly goes by in the comics. “WandaVision is such an incredible concept,” Olsen said. “It’s the first time we get to understand [Wanda Maximoff] as the Scarlet Witch that she is in the comics, and that’s exciting for me, because I haven’t yet been able to give her that time onscreen. So that’s going to be fun. She’s always been a representation of mental health and illness in the comic book series, and her major role is handling that stigma within Marvel.”

Those more acquainted with the Marvel Cinematic Universe than Marvel Comics have never seen Wanda in this light, so this could be a very welcome addition. After all, with the exception of Iron Man 3 and Thor’s questionably handled Endgame storyline, the MCU hasn’t made many efforts to tackle mental illness, even though every single one of its characters could probably use a therapy session or two.

We also may see a more powerful version of the character. In the comics, the Scarlet Witch can alter probability and even reality itself, but onscreen this mostly boils down to her shooting red mist out of her hands. An entire series built around her could go much more in depth.

As for why Vision is still around after he died at the end of Infinity War, Olson couldn’t give anything away, although given the focus on mental health and Wanda’s powers, we could venture a few guesses.

Luckily, Marvel fans won’t have to wait too long to find out how Wanda and Vision end up in this wacky sitcom world. The series is currently slated to arrive on Disney+ in December, and it sounds like it’ll be a much-needed holiday gift after the nightmare of 2020.

And there’s more Marvel TV where that came from. After WandaVision, fans can look forward to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which will look in on what Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes are up to since Steve Rogers got out of the superhero game and bequeathed the title of Captain America to Sam.

“I’m very proud of and honoured by what it came to be,” writer Derek Kolstad said on the latest episode of the Script Apart podcast. “Here’s what I’ll say: growing up, everyone would give someone like Robin shit. But Robin’s pretty badass, and became pretty badass in the comics. [We’re] taking secondary characters and putting them in the primary roles, and [as a result] they’re cooler. They’re more interesting. There’s more humanity, more longing, more suffering, and coming to grips with who and what they are.”

Intriguingly, Kolstad also teased some familiar faces on the way: “What I will say is that there are characters from the earliest Marvel movies that are coming back. We’re layering them in and reinventing them in a way that’s gonna shift the storytelling structure. It’s fucking awesome.”

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was originally going to air this August, but has been pushed back into next year thanks to the plague.

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h/t Empire