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WandaVision boss breaks silence on that jaw-dropping guest star: 'We didn't know if it would be possible'
The latest episode of Disney+ original series WandaVision pulled off one of the biggest surprises in the MCU's storied history, and now we have the inside scoop at how that door knock came together.
***WARNING! The following contains major spoilers for the latest episode of WandaVision!***
It's been four days since Evan Peters' Quicksilver made his appearance in Episode 5 of WandaVision, and we're still not over it. The X-Men and multiverse implications for the MCU are just too great to ignore, even if the Fox-owned version of Pietro Maximoff doesn't have any further appearances beyond the Phase 4 TV series. The fact that Disney is willing to get this meta about its 20th Century acquisition tells us that mutants, Deadpool, and the Fantastic Four can't be too far behind...right?
"We were rooting for it for so long, and didn't know if it would be possible,” WandaVision showrunner Jac Schaeffer explained to Marvel.com when discussing the jaw-dropping guest spot, which she co-conceived early on with executive producer Mary Livanos. “It was complicated to make happen. Evan was always up for it — like, always, always, always. He is a comic book fan, and a Marvel fan. He is always up for the absolute weirdest option. And he's a pleasure — truly a pleasure to work with."
Based on this statement, it sounds as though the idea of recruiting Peters (who appeared in three X-Men films: Days of Future Past, Apocalypse, and Dark Phoenix) may have come about while the Fox merger was taking place. In any case, Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige didn't want the reveal to simply be a gimmick. Like the whole decade-hopping sitcom shtick, it needed to be natural and serve a higher narrative function.
"Kevin wanted to make sure that there was a reason for it, that it made sense. And I hope that's what we did," said Schaeffer. "This show is such a mind scramble, and because it's working on so many levels, and there's so many notions of what's real and what's not, and performance, and casting, and audience, and fandom, and all of that, we just thought it would be the biggest thrill to bring Evan over to the Marvel Cinematic Universe."
Episode 6 of WandaVision premieres on Disney+ this Friday (Feb. 12). Drawing from '90s-era television, the next installment has deeper meaning for Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch), whose older sisters — Mary-Kate and Ashley — played Michelle Tanner on classic comedy Full House. To that end, it looks like the "recast" Pietro (sorry, Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has been placed into the "cool uncle" trope that brings to mind John Stamos' Uncle Jesse.
"We were like, 'How in the world are we going to make this make logical sense?'" Schaeffer added. "Like, 'How do we justify this?' Because that's the thing, you can hatch a million great ideas, but to make them land, to make them be grounded, to make them feel organic to the larger story."
