In a recent interview with The Times of London (conducted before the strike), Elizabeth Olsen expressed her desire to play a variety of characters, following her four-year stint in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After devoting significant time to portraying Scarlet Witch in both “WandaVision” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” Olsen felt it was time to pursue different roles. This led her to take on the role of Candy Montgomery, the alleged axe murderer, in Max’s “Love and Death.”
“I’m currently trying to figure out my next steps because for the past four years, my focus has been on Marvel projects,” Olsen shared. “Don’t get me wrong, I love playing this character, but I don’t want to be solely associated with her. It’s crucial for me to develop other roles to achieve balance in my career. I have a strong desire to participate in more movies and I hope that some of the opportunities I’m interested in will come to fruition. Ultimately, I need to diversify my roles as an actress because it’s not sustainable to rely on one character for longevity.”
Olsen faced challenges in pursuing her passion for diverse roles due to the COVID pandemic and her commitments to Marvel productions. These factors disrupted the momentum she had gained since 2017 in exploring different characters.
Olsen expressed satisfaction in choosing both “Wind River” and “Ingrid Goes West” as films she was proud of, noting their uniqueness and the inability to compare them. She desires more variation in her life to continue experiencing that sense of pride.
Meghann Fahy, who stars in “The White Lotus,” had a conversation with Elizabeth Olsen as part of Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series in June. Olsen was frank about not missing her time as Scarlet Witch when they spoke. When Fahy asked, “Do you miss doing Wanda?” Olsen gave her honest answer.
Olsen was asked if she has any plans to pitch ideas to Kevin Feige for future Marvel movies, to which she replied in the negative. She explained that after almost 10 years of playing Wanda, she is content and proud of what they were able to accomplish with “WandaVision”. Olsen expressed gratitude for the surprising opportunity that the show provided and stated that even if she were fired from future Marvel projects, she would still be proud of their work. Furthermore, she is now focused on exploring other films and characters outside of the Marvel universe.
At present, Olsen has no clue whether she will reprise her role as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She has been portraying the character since the release of “Avengers: Age of Ultron” in 2015. The last time we saw Wanda was in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” in 2022, where she sacrificed herself to obliterate the Darkhold, an evil book of sorcery that had corrupted her and transformed her into a villain. Unfortunately, she was crushed under a collapsing building, leaving her fate uncertain.
