Marvel Mondays: 7 WandaVision BTS Details That Fans Might Not Know, Including How Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange Almost Appeared

It’s been more than two and a half years since Disney+'s first Marvel Cinematic Universe TV series debuted in the form of WandaVision. Since then we’ve seen eight more shows join the ranks, with each one continuing the MCU’s storytelling in new and interesting ways.

With Loki on the verge of returning, and the first of the live-action MCU series to get a second season, we thought it would be nice to take a look back at the shows that started it all in a new regular series leading to the debut of Loki Season 2. So let's start with the first series, which might still be the MCU’s most creative and unique project. Here’s a look at WandaVision and a few of the things about the show’s production that you might not be aware of.

Dick Van Dyke Was Consulted To Help Make The First Episode Authentic

WandaVision’s main conceit sees the two title characters living their lives through a series of iconic sitcom tropes, with each episode being set in a different era. In addition to making each episode look like the proper sitcom style, the filmmakers wanted each episode to be created as faithfully to that style as possible. So for example, practical wire effects were used to recreate Wanda’s magic in the early episodes rather than digital effects.

Director Matt Shakman and Keven Feige even went so far as to enlist the great Dick Van Dyke so they could pick his brain and learn as much as they could about how The Dick Van Dyke Show had been brought to life. The three had lunch at Disneyland’s iconic Club 33.

Paul Bettany Was Colored Blue To Make Vision Work In Black And White

Costumes in the MCU are often interesting because so many of them are created with CGI more than they are actual outfits. Traditionally Vision is one of those characters, with his on-set look being designed for motion capture rather than being an actual wardrobe. However, Bettany usually looks like his head has been painted red when he’s playing Vision, but for WandaVision, he was blue.

Shots from the WandaVision set from the first two episodes of the show, when Vision is looking like his android self rather than just looking human, reveal that his face was colored blue. This was apparently done because for the episodes that were shot in black and white, the red didn’t end up looking right, but the blue translated to black and white much better.

Kat Dennings’ Darcy Almost Had A Very Different Role

WandaVision saw the return of not only the title characters to the MCU, but also a couple of fan-favorite supporting players, namely Randall Park’s Agent Woo and Kat Dennings' Darcy. In the series, Darcy gets drafted into service to investigate “the hex” because she now has a Ph. D in astrophysics since last we saw her, but originally her connection to the story was a bit more mundane.

Showrunner Jac Shaeffer revealed that in early drafts of the first episode, Darcy is retrieving an old TV set that she had pawned after her grandma had been snapped out of existence, but was now back and apparently wondering where all her stuff was. It’s when Darcy plugs in the old TV that she discovers the broadcast from the Hex.

Teyonah Parris Didn’t Know What She Was Auditioning For

Secrecy is a well-known staple of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Steps are always taken to help ensure that details about upcoming movies are not revealed too early. In the case of WandaVision this meant that when Teyonah Parris auditioned for the role of Monica Rambeau, she actually had no idea what she was auditioning for.

Paris explained in the Assembled making-of special on Disney+ that she knew she was auditioning for something Marvel-related, but beyond that, it was all a mystery. She was sent asides from the '70s-era episode of WandaVision, which obviously didn’t look too much like anything she would have expected to see from the MCU. She was told that it was okay to overact, and she did what she called “some very great overacting.” Marvel clearly loved it, so they offered her the part. Of course, then she had to ask what the part actually was.

Paul Bettany Took One Of WandaVision’s Props Home

It’s not uncommon for actors to be given, or simply to take certain props from the set home with them. Paul Bettany did just that with WandaVision. However, rather than taking home a particular costume, he instead walked off with a bust of Vision, which he apparently uses to freak out his guests.

The Vision bust was created so the crew could light the set properly whenever he wasn’t actually available. Bettany decided to take it home with him, and it now resides in his country house, sitting on the toilet for guests to discover when they come to visit.

Doctor Strange Was Going To Cameo To Set Up Multiverse Of Madness

WandaVision became an important piece in the Marvel Cinematic Universe not only as the first Disney+ Marvel series, but because the story of Wanda Maximoff in the show connects directly to what happens to her next in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. There were initially plans to have Benedict Cumberbatch cameo in the series, but it ended up not happening.

Kevin Feige explained that it was felt that having Doctor Strange show up would have taken away from Wanda’s story, and it sounds like they never found a way to integrate him into the show that wasn’t going to feel tacked on, so the idea was scrapped.

Emma Caulfield Was Cast In Part Due To Her Buffy Connection, But Only As A Misdirection

The mystery of just what is going on inside WandaVision’s TV-inspired world goes on for most of the series, which leads fans to speculate about just what was happening and who was responsible for it. One early candidate for the guilty party was the character of Dottie, played by Emma Caulfield. Genre TV fans certainly knew her from her regular role as Anya the demon on TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and it turns out this was all very much intentional.

Dottie ended up just being another citizen of the town who had their mind controlled by Wanda, but Emma Caulfield says her previous time as a magic-using monster on Buffy was supposed to get viewers thinking that she could turn out to be something more, which would therefore keep the audience further away from figuring out the truth.

Based on WandaVision’s unique structure and where the MCU has taken the two title characters since then, it seems unlikely that WandaVision Season 2 is something that will ever happen the way it has for Loki. Still, it’s an amazing show which is absolutely worth watching if that’s something you still haven't done yet.