Although WandaVision was already filled with cameos and surprises, we almost got one more in the form of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange. In an interview with Rolling Stone on the oral history of WandaVision, Marvel Studios’ president Kevin Feige revealed that Marvel had originally struck a deal with the actor to appear in the final episode of the show. However, this episode was eventually rewritten for a very specific reason.
“Some people might say, ‘Oh, it would’ve been so cool to see Dr. Strange,’” Feige said. “But it would have taken away from Wanda, which is what we didn’t want to do. 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.’” WandaVision creator Jac Schaeffer said that the in-universe commercials were also, at one point, going to be messages from Strange to Wanda, and they were even going to have Cumberbatch appear in one of those ads.
WandaVision already had a lot going on from the reveal of Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness to the fun cameo of Evan Peters as Pietro aka Ralph Bohner. The ending wonderfully teased Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness without giving too much away or being too on the nose. Since the last episode of WandaVision had to be rewritten to remove Strange, that meant the movie had to be changed as well. In the end, Feige says, Marvel’s process is “a wonderful combination of very dedicated coordination, and chaos. Chaos magic.” Although we don’t know much about the plot of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the second end-credits scene of WandaVision’s finale does see Wanda reading the Darkhold and diving further into dark magic.
Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be released in theaters on March 25, 2022. WandaVision is currently available to stream on Disney+.