The final episode of Agatha All Along is in the books. And while at this point it is still TBA where Ghost Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) and Wiccan (Joe Locke) will show up next, there’s one thing that is vitally clear after the series finale: Marvel needs to hire showrunner Jac Schaeffer immediately to write and direct a Scarlet Witch solo movie.
First of all, to get this out of the way… There’s been no official confirmation Marvel Studios is even working on a Scarlet Witch movie. Back on September 11, there was a posting on Production Weekly that listed Scarlet Witch, written by Jac Schaeffer and Megan McDonnell. PW has a hit-or-miss record of revealing info, though this has the feel of being legit. Yet when asked bluntly about when she was shooting the movie on the Agatha carpet a few days later, Schaeffer laughed out loud.
“I’m just here hoping for a Scarlet Witch movie,” said Schaeffer. “We all want Wanda. So, fingers crossed that’s a thing that happens.”
When asked whether she thinks it will happen, Schaeffer continued, “I don’t know! I’m in witchy Agatha land right now, and I can’t quite see through the trees. But we’re hoping.”
Not an outright denial by any means, but also not a confirmation. The point is, Schaeffer would like a Scarlet Witch movie to happen — but isn’t saying anything as of now… Not least of which because Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) is, you know, dead.
Scarlet Witch Could Be Brought Back To Life — Though There Would Likely Be A Cost
But come on, this is the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). While Schaeffer spent most of Agatha All Along driving home that there’s a cost to death beyond the usual revolving door of comic book franchises, she also introduced the literal avatar of Death (Aubrey Plaza). There are options if they want to bring Wanda back from being flattened like a pancake by Mount Wundagore in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Schaeffer and company even played around heavily with a possible return of Wanda throughout the series. Granted, it was all from Agatha’s perspective, and she wasn’t at Mount Wundagore. But from showing the body of Wanda in the first episode to Agatha giving Wanda’s son Billy a non-commital answer about whether she was really dead late in the season, the audience has been sufficiently teased. There’s also the fact that Billy Maximoff is a resurrection machine. He brought himself back. In the second to last episode of the season, he brought back his brother, Tommy. Who is to say he couldn’t resurrect Wanda, next?
Then of course there’s the multiverse to think about. We already saw one multiversal variant of Wanda in the Doctor Strange sequel. With a big blow-out coming in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, there are plenty of opportunities for Olsen to pop her head back into the MCU.
…And that’s fine and all, but to be clear I’m not asking for Wanda 2347 from an Earth where everyone is zebras to show up briefly in Secret Wars (though I would not stop them from doing that). We — if you don’t mind me including you, the reader in this request — want Wanda Maximoff from the main MCU continuity back, alive, and having to grapple with everything she’s done in WandaVision and Multiverse of Madness.
There’s nobody better to handle that than Jac Schaeffer. That’s been clear from the writing perspective thanks to WandaVision and Agatha All Along, the two high watermarks of Marvel Television so far. But I’ll take it a step further and say Marvel should hire Schaeffer to direct, as well.
Jac Schaeffer Should Write And Direct A Scarlet Witch Movie
While MCU fans know Schaeffer best for her considerable writing chops, she got her professional career started in 2009 with TiMER, a sci-fi rom-com that she wrote, directed, and produced. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, followed by a theatrical run. Though it was well-received she put directing and producing on the shelf (which she received an MFA for, from USC) for a few years to concentrate on writing.
Since then, she wrote on Captain Marvel and Black Widow, among other non-Marvel projects, before writing WandaVision. And she’s finally looped back to directing with Agatha All Along — as well as her showrunning duties. Schaeffer directed the first two episodes of the season, and due to unforeseen circumstances jumped in to direct Episode 7. You know, the most lauded and complicated episode of the season, “Death’s Hand in Mine,” aka the Lilia Calderu (Patti Lupone) episode? That one.
She’s proven her chops with writing. She’s proven her chops (once again) with directing… This time with what is reportedly the cheapest MCU project so far. It also looked great and included some fantastic practical and CGI special effects. Schaeffer is an old hand at this. Not only has she dropped some fantastically nuanced emotional arcs, but thrilling twists and big action set pieces, too. It’s clear she can do it all.
Marvel, particularly at the crossroads it is at right now, would be well served to kick some relatively homegrown talent like Schaeffer to the next level. They got their start by giving Jon Favreau a chance on Iron Man. They similarly took a chance on Joss Whedon to write and direct The Avengers, and that paid off as well. Schaeffer going from TV to features could be seen as a big leap. But frankly, at this point, it’s a safer bet to hand her a Scarlet Witch movie than either of the two names previously mentioned.
She’s also been a brilliant shepherd of these characters, from Wanda to Agatha, to Billy and Tommy. While she’s passed showrunning duties to Terry Matalas for the Vision series that will complete this TV trilogy, wouldn’t it make sense for her to pick up where that leaves off, on the big screen? Who better to bring whatever form the Maximoff family ends up in (meaning Wanda, Vision, Billy, and Tommy, along with former babysitter Agatha Harkness) to a feature film?
Honestly? Nobody. Schaeffer knows what she’s doing, and how to provide MCU entertainment that pleases both fans and critics. There’s every chance this would be a hit, and provide emotional closure to these characters that we’ve now been watching for over half a decade… And more, once Vision premieres.
Come on, Marvel Studios, sign those contracts and give the Scarlet Witch movie to Jac Schaeffer. And sign up Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez while you’re at it. You know they’ll give the movie a catchy theme song.
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