Why The WandaVision Finale Might Disappoint Some Fans
The final episode of WandaVision is only a few days away, and series director Matt Shakman is preparing for fan reactions... whether they're good or bad. Spoilers for WandaVision ahead!
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly ahead of the last episode, Shakman revealed that the finale — which will finish out the ambitious story of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), her android lover Vision (Paul Bettany), and the carefully concocted world they inhabit — will provide plenty of answers, but may leave some fans feeling let down thanks to the wild number of theories circulating the Internet.
So far, we've learned that Wanda, grieving the loss of Vision — who is killed by Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Infinity War — has created a false reality to bring her lover back, trapping the residents of Westview, New Jersey inside of a manipulated world. To make matters more complicated, one of Westview's residents, Agnes (Kathryn Hahn), is revealed to be the witch Agatha Harkness, who, in turn, has manipulated several elements of the hex on her own to try and trick Wanda.
There's a lot for WandaVision to wrap up, and Shakman's vision has steered the show in a great direction so far. However, the showrunner thinks some fans might be bummed after the next episode; here's why the WandaVision finale might disappoint some fans.
Matt Shakman is worried fans will be disappointed by the WandaVision finale... for one specific reason
In the interview, EW asks the director "what [he hopes] people take away from the finale," Shakman was earnest about it, saying he hopes fans will be satisfied with his conclusion. "I hope that they feel like the journey was satisfying for them," Shakman said. "I know there are so many theories out there; there will be a lot of people who will no doubt be disappointed by one theory or another. But we're always telling this story about Wanda dealing with grief and learning how to accept that loss, and hopefully people will find that the finale is surprising but also satisfying, and that it feels inevitable because it's the same story they've been watching the whole time."
"The challenge as a director was unique," Shakman continued. "I'll never have a job like this again. This was the job of a lifetime, to be able to draw on all of those different skillsets. But what does hold it all together is that it has a big heart. It's a love story, it's a story of loss, and I think that resonates even more in this crazy pandemic that we're all trying to survive right now. I think we can all understand where Wanda's coming from, so it helps it to resonate a little bit more."
The big theme at the heart of WandaVision
After the penultimate episode of the season, which takes a deep dive into some of the most tragic and gutting moments throughout Wanda's life, Shakman can finally open up about the real theme of the show: dealing with grief and loss.
"I'm glad we're able to talk now after that last episode because that last episode pulls the curtain back," Shakman said. "The whole show has really been about Wanda processing grief. That's been the engine behind everything, from the earliest episodes all the way up until now. As a director, and for what [series creator] Jac Schaeffer and her team were creating as writers, it's all connected to remembering that that is the spine of the story. The story is about how to process loss — and how do we learn to move on from that?
"That is the through-line that carries through everything," Shakman concluded. "It's this love story, it's this exploration of loss, and that allows you, once you're grounded, to play with all of this comedy and all of this style. In the end, you're creating these worlds that Wanda has created to escape from that. You want them to be perfect and detailed and real to her. They're not parodies, they're not spoofs — they are the world she has chosen to create to retreat from the real world. That was our sort of governing idea, and I think that affected tone."
Matt Shakman has nothing but praise for his leading lady
So how did Shakman and star Elizabeth Olsen work together to reach this pivotal reveal? "[Elizabeth]'s wonderful, and she's been the biggest advocate for this character from the beginning. When she first got the part, she read everything that there was out there, and she very much understood that Wanda has experienced more loss than anybody else in the Marvel universe. She's lost her parents, she's lost her brother, she's lost the love of her life by now, and she's right on the edge. In some ways, [Wanda is] as close as Marvel gets to exploring mental illness, really — like, how do you hold together your reality when you're constantly experiencing so much trauma?"
Ultimately, Shakman has nothing but kind things to say about his star: "She taps into that so beautifully, and she's an incredibly talented actor. She can do these incredibly dramatic scenes, but then also you can watch episode 1, and you can see her out-Lucy Lucy and out-Mary Tyler Moore Mary Tyler Moore. She's so funny and alive and brilliant at all of those different styles. She knows and loves Wanda better than anybody, and it was such a great opportunity to build and take that character to new places together with her."
The final episode of WandaVision airs on Friday, March 5 at midnight PST on Disney+.