The Buffy The Vampire Slayer Connection You Missed In WandaVision

Contains spoilers for WandaVision

There's a good chance you already noticed the obvious Buffy the Vampire Slayer connection in WandaVision's second episode: Former Buffy actress Emma Caulfield (credited as Emma Caulfield Ford), who portrayed the vengeance demon Anya for several seasons of the popular WB-turned-UPN series, popped up as neighborhood queen bee Dottie in the Disney+ show's second outing. But there's a second, unintentional Buffy connection in the very same episode that you might have missed. 

In "Don't Touch That Dial," Wanda and Vision (Paul Bettany) put on a magic act for a town talent show to benefit "the children." It's a hysterical disaster from the start because Vision has accidentally swallowed a piece of gum, and because he's an android, it messes with his basic functions, making him appear drunk. This forces Wanda to have to subtly use her powers for the duration of the act, which, at one point, also features a harmless white bunny rabbit. 

Now, any Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan worth their weight in sharpened pointy sticks will know that Anya famously had a fear of bunnies, as the show made reference to it on multiple occasions — including in the musical episode "Once More, with Feeling" and "Tabula Rasa," an episode in which everyone loses their memory. Some astute WandaVision viewers have taken the presence of the fluffy bunny in the magic act to be a subtle nod to Anya. And if you missed the connection, you're not the only one.

In an interview with TVLine, Caulfield revealed that she didn't make the connection to Anya and her notorious fear of bunnies until someone pointed it out to her. "I shot it, and I didn't catch it," she told the outlet. "I didn't have anything to do with the rabbit. This is Wanda's action. It's her magic act with Vision. I did not catch it."

Caulfield also said that after the bunny was brought to her attention, she reached out to WandaVision creator Jac Schaeffer to find out if she deliberately included a callback to Buffy, or if the connection was merely happenstance. "She would have said something if that was her intention, to put that little Buffy Easter egg in there. She never said anything to me about it, so I think it's pure coincidence," noted Caulfield. "[But] it would make sense that somebody would throw a fun little Easter egg in there like that."

Even if the Buffy the Vampire Slayer connection wasn't purposeful, there are plenty of references that are. WandaVision is packed with Marvel Easter eggs referencing everything from the Mind Stone, which brought Vision to life in Avengers: Age of Ultron, to Baron von Strucker, who was responsible for Wanda receiving her powers.

New episodes of WandaVision hit Disney+ on Fridays at midnight PT (3 AM ET).