The Series Finale
"The Series Finale" is the ninth episode and series finale of the American television miniseries WandaVision, based on Marvel Comics featuring the characters Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch and Vision. It follows Wanda as she tries to protect the idyllic suburban life and family that she created in the town of Westview, New Jersey. The episode is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. It was written by head writer Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman.
Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany reprise their respective roles as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch and Vision from the film series, with Debra Jo Rupp, Teyonah Parris, Evan Peters, Randall Park, Kat Dennings, and Kathryn Hahn also starring. Development began by October 2018, and Schaeffer was hired to serve as head writer for the series in January 2019. Shakman joined that August. The series finale was designed as an MCU film-style conclusion with a large amount of fighting and visual effects, and it introduces a new Scarlet Witch costume. Filming took place in the Atlanta metropolitan area in Atlanta, Georgia, including at Pinewood Atlanta Studios, and in Los Angeles. The episode ends with mid- and post-credits scenes that respectively set up the MCU films The Marvels and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
"The Series Finale" was released on the streaming service Disney+ on March 5, 2021. Critics praised the performances, visual effects, and payoff for the series' emotional arc, but had mixed reactions to the action-oriented climax and Peters' character reveal. It received several accolades, including three Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
Plot
attempts to take Wanda Maximoff's chaos magic but is interrupted by the white, re-assembled, and re-animated Vision who attacks Maximoff, revealing S.W.O.R.D. director Tyler Hayward's orders to eliminate her. He is foiled by the version of Vision created by Wanda who fights with White Vision across Westview while Harkness continues to attack Maximoff. Harkness frees the residents of Westview from Maximoff's spell that trapped them in sitcom personas, and they implore Wanda to set them free.Wanda opens the barrier, allowing the residents to escape, but her Vision and their sons Billy and Tommy begin to disintegrate. She closes the barrier again, but not before Hayward enters with multiple S.W.O.R.D. personnel. Monica Rambeau removes a magical necklace from "Pietro Maximoff", releasing him from Harkness's control and revealing his true identity as Ralph Bohner. Maximoff attempts to overpower Harkness with illusions of her past, but Harkness gains control and overpowers Maximoff. Using newly developed powers, Rambeau saves Billy and Tommy from Hayward, who is detained by Darcy Lewis.
Maximoff's Vision helps unlock the White Vision's memories, and the latter departs Westview. Harkness takes Maximoff's magic but does not realize that Maximoff has created magical runes around the barrier to prevent Harkness from using her own magic. Maximoff then reclaims all of her magic and becomes the Scarlet Witch. She traps Harkness as the sitcom persona "Agnes", and then takes her family home as she collapses the barrier. Maximoff and Vision put their sons to bed and then say goodbye, before Vision, the boys, and their house all disappear. Faced with the Westview residents that she has harmed, Maximoff makes peace with a sympathetic Rambeau and goes into hiding, vowing to better understand her powers.
In a mid-credits scene, Hayward is arrested while Rambeau is informed by a Skrull disguised as an FBI agent that a friend of her mother Maria wants to meet with her in space. In a post-credits scene, while studying the Darkhold in her astral form at a remote cabin, Maximoff hears her sons calling for her help.
Production
Development
By October 2018, Marvel Studios was developing a limited series starring Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany's Vision from the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. In January 2019, Jac Schaeffer was hired as head writer of WandaVision. In August, Matt Shakman was hired to direct the miniseries, with Schaeffer and Shakman executive producing alongside Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, and Victoria Alonso. Feige described the series as part "Marvel epic", part "classic sitcom", that paid tribute to many eras of American sitcoms. Bettany described the ending as an epic collision. Schaeffer wrote the ninth episode, which is titled "The Series Finale".Writing
Schaeffer's outline for the series combined sitcom elements with an MCU story, building up to a big finale that had the spectacle of an MCU film. Much of the final episode's elements were known from the beginning of writing the series, with some coming from Schaeffer's initial pitch. These included the involvement of the series' supporting characters, the fights between the two Visions and between Maximoff and Agatha Harkness, and the final goodbye between Maximoff and Vision after putting Billy and Tommy to bed and before Vision disappears. The rest of the episode was then fleshed out during development, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing some further changes during filming. Schaeffer was glad that the goodbye scene between Maximoff and Vision remained in the final version of the episode, calling it the "heart of the show". The scene originally required Maximoff to release Vision by casting a binding spell that she learned from Harkness earlier, before Harkness was changed from a mentor to an antagonist. COVID-19 delays allowed Schaeffer to fine-tune the episode's logic, including adjustments to the action sequences.Co-executive producer Mary Livanos pitched the idea of using the Darkhold to increase the level of danger Harkness poses to Maximoff. Harkness reads about the Scarlet Witch from the Darkhold and says Maximoff is destined to destroy the world. This prophecy originally had a larger role, with Maximoff having to overcome that destiny, but Schaeffer found this to be too restrictive for future MCU stories and decided to end the series with Maximoff not yet learning everything about her destiny and abilities. The sequence where Maximoff is confronted by the residents of Westview was originally envisioned as a "zombie attack" before being changed to a verbal attack from the residents. Shakman believed Harkness's line in this moment where she says "heroes don't torture people" was a "huge moment" for the episode that gave Maximoff something to contemplate.
Bettany portrays both Vision, created by Maximoff, and The Vision, the white body of the original character. These were differentiated in the script as "Soul Vision" and "White Vision", respectively. Bettany was apprehensive of playing The Vision due to the character's short arc and "big turn" within the episode; he differentiated the two versions by making The Vision familiar and intimidating. Schaeffer knew the fight between the two Visions would end in a logic battle, with series writer Megan McDonnell conceiving a conversation about the Ship of Theseus. The writers did not learn that there is a similar conversation about the Ship of Theseus between two versions of the Vision in the Avengers comics until after the episode was released. Shakman said the idea of identity was central to the episode's fights, with the two Visions discussing who the real Vision is while Harkness tries to tell Maximoff who she is. The latter fight ends with Maximoff deciding for herself to embrace the Scarlet Witch identity. Shakman said Monica Rambeau's role in the episode was constantly changing, with some versions giving her a larger role in the final fight than is seen in the episode.
Discussing Harkness being forced back to her "Agnes" persona at the end of the episode, actress Kathryn Hahn initially felt that this was not a punishment, believing that Harkness had been restless and lonely for a long time and this would allow her to relax and continue forming the companionships she made with some of the Westview residents. However, Hahn later stated that this was not how she felt and she was partially joking with the earlier comment, instead believing that Maximoff had essentially lobotomized Harkness. She added that, for Harkness, "to clip her wings and put her somewhere like that with boring people and not have anything to do. It's the worst, it's a nightmare." Maximoff's "walk of shame" through the town at the end of the episode was conceived to be "like an assault of death glares from people", with Feige requesting more from that moment so the audience could "understand that what she did was terrible". Schaeffer said Maximoff would most likely face consequences for her actions in the future, and did not want to end the series in a way where Maximoff's actions could be easily forgiven. Livanos enjoyed the "texture" the ending provided of the world possibly still labeling Maximoff as a terrorist. Schaeffer believed the series ended in a way for Maximoff to "say goodbye on her own terms" in order for her to "process everything she's been through and reach acceptance". Regarding the notion that Maximoff may have gotten off "too easy" by simply flying away from Westview, Olsen felt Maximoff had a "tremendous amount of guilt" and needed to leave before those who would hold her accountable arrived. Additional material filmed for this moment that did not appear in the episode would have helped clarify these points.
Dr. Stephen Strange was originally set to appear in the episode, with Benedict Cumberbatch reprising the role, in what would have been a hand-off to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but this did not happen because the creatives believed he would have taken focus away from Maximoff and did not want the episode to be "commoditized to go to the next movie" or to have a white male showing Maximoff how to harness her powers. Schaeffer added that the scenes featuring the character never felt right to the writers and seemed "a little tacked on", while also presenting the question of where he had been for the rest of the series. Despite this, Olsen said the episode was a "complete tee-up" for Maximoff's appearance in Multiverse of Madness. Schaeffer said the episode's end credits scenes were the biggest connective tissue between the series and future Marvel projects, and were being re-written until late in the process to make sure they covered what was needed for the hand-offs. This was done in discussion with the creative teams of Multiverse of Madness and The Marvels. The post-credit scene shows Maximoff studying the Darkhold as the Scarlet Witch in her astral form, indicating a passage of time and showing that she has reached self-acceptance. Schaeffer enjoyed the duality of the scene, with Maximoff "ruminating and reflecting" while her astral form functions at an unknown level. Whether Maximoff should hear her children in the scene or not was a topic of discussion. Andi Ortiz of TheWrap said this scene made it unlikely that Maximoff would become a villain in Multiverse of Madness since she was trying to control her powers, but Chancellor Agard of Entertainment Weekly felt the opposite, believing Maximoff was turning to the "bad side" to search for her children in the multiverse which would put her at odds with Strange.