VARIETY Elizabeth Olsen is currently on a break from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and she’s definitely enjoying it. During a conversation with “The White Lotus” star Meghann Fahy as part of Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series, Olsen got honest about not missing her Scarlet Witch days.
“Do you miss doing Wanda?” Fahy asked.
“No, I don’t,” Olsen responded. “I think it’s been almost 10 years of playing her. And I’ve loved it. And I think the reason why I am not calling Kevin Feige every day with ideas is because I’m really proud of what we were able to do. I think ‘WandaVision’ was a really surprising opportunity.”
Olsen added, “If someone were to tell me that I’m fired from Marvel movies, I will feel proud of what we made. And I really am just trying to figure out how to load up other films and characters so it becomes less about the Marvel of it all.”
“That’s such a great answer!” Fahy said. “It’s so honest.”
Olsen currently has no idea when or if she will return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, a character she’s been playing since 2015’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” Wanda was last seen in 2022’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” where she was crushed under a collapsing building after she sacrificed herself to destroy the Darkhold, the evil book of sorcery that had corrupted her and turned her into a villain.
“There really is so much more to explore,” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige told Variety last year. “We still haven’t touched on many of her core storylines from the comics. I’d work with Lizzie for another 100 years if we could. Anything’s possible in the multiverse! We’ll have to see.”
In interviews following the release of the “Doctor Strange” sequel, Olsen did not hide the fact that she was surprised Marvel took Scarlet Witch in such a villainous direction. The Emmy nominee said she struggled with the jump from “WandaVision,” where Scarlet Witch became a more vulnerable and fully-fleshed out character, to “Multiverse of Madness,” where she went full villain.
“At first I think I was nervous and conflicted, because I hadn’t finished ‘WandaVision’ yet, but we were almost finished,” Olsen told Variety about learning her character was becoming a villain. “And I was like, ‘Oh my god, how do I make this all work together?’ We got there; I got there. And it became an amazing opportunity to have people be won over by this woman in ‘WandaVision’ and feel for her, and then, you know, manipulate them into this film, where they get to be on her side and then feel conflicted themselves.”
Olsen previously told ScreenRant that should Scarlet Witch return to the MCU, she’s hoping the character can have a bit more humor to her. Click here to read the full “Actors on Actors” discussion between Olsen and Fahy.
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