Despite previous reports of December release, Marvel Studio’s WandaVision will air its first episode on Disney+ on January 15, 2021. According to Gizmodo, this Thursday announcement officially means that 2020 will be “the first year in a decade there was nothing new released from Marvel Studios.”
While there have been plenty of Marvel-based TV shows from ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.LD. to Netflix’s Daredevil to Hulu’s The Runaways, WandaVision will mark Marvel Studios first foray into the world of television. According to Entertainment Weekly, the upcoming television properties from Marvel Studios promise more direct connection to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. WandaVision’s story will be set directly after the events of Avengers: Endgame and lay the groundwork for the upcoming Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.
In a year without a new MCU property, September’s announcement that WandaVision would see December release came as a relief to Marvel fans starved for content. The trailer for the series broke records and created massive buzz, an excitement furthered just this week when Entertainment Weekly ran an in-depth cover story with the show’s cast and creators.
While having a premiere date comes as a relief for fans, many wonder why the studio went back on its claim that WandaVision would be available before the year’s end. Deadline speculates that “Disney+ is spacing out new product during the pandemic, particularly with the Christmas Day drop of Pixar’s Soul and the mid-December wrap-up of Mandalorian season 2.”
With COVID-19 disrupting Hollywood productions left and right, up-and-coming streaming platforms like Disney+ have less original content to present, which creates this need to space out the originals they have available. In fact, the position of Marvel Studio’s first Disney+ show was originally reserved for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but WandaVision happened to be the series closest to finishing production when the pandemic initially hit. Entertainment Weekly finds this turn of events fitting though, as WandaVision‘s sitcom-hoping experimentation stands as an ode to television itself.
Wandavision stars Elizabeth Olsen (Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War) and Paul Bettany (Avengers: Infinity War, A Knight’s Tale) as Wanda Maximoff and Vision, newlyweds settling in the suburb of Westview. Kat Denning’s (Two Broke Girls, Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist) will reprise her Thor role as Darcy Lewis and Teyonah Parris (Dear White People, Mad Men) will debut as an adult Monica Rambeau, first introduced in Captain Marvel. Kathryn Hahn (Transparent, Mrs. Fletcher) and Randall Park (Fresh Off the Boat, Always Be My Maybe), with Park reprising his Ant Man and the Wasp character Jimmy Woo and Hahn playing a mysterious character that Inverse speculates to be the Scarlet Witch’s comic book mentor Agatha Harkness.
Marvel Cinematic Universe fans can finally dive back into the universe they love in 2021, with WandaVision’s January 15 release. With many movies and shows returning to production after a COVID-induced hiatus, hopefully the series is the first of many properties Marvel fans will be able to feast their eyes on in the new year.
Image Credit: Raymond Flotat