Elizabeth Olsen recently opened up about playing Wanda Maximoff, aka Scarlet Witch, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for so long, and it sounds like she’s ready to move on and play a variety of other characters.
Olsen filmed WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness back to back, and after that jumped into the role of alleged axe murderer Candy Montgomery in Max’s Love and Death series, which she was great in. When it comes to playing Scarlet Witch, though, Olsen explained in an interview with The Times of London:
“I’m trying to figure out… Because, specifically in the last four years, my output has been Marvel. I don’t want… it’s not that I don’t want to be associated as just this character. But I really feel like I need to be building other parts back up for balance. I so much want to do films right now. And I hope some of them come together in the way I feel like they can. But yeah, that’s something that I need. I just need other characters in my life. There’s no longevity in one character.”
Olsen explains that her Marvel obligations and the pandemic were affecting the variety of roles that she started to take on around 2017. She explains: “Wind River and Ingrid Goes West were films that I was very proud to have selected and they were so different and you can’t compare them. So I just want more of that in my life just because I get satisfaction from the variation.”
During a previous interview when Olsen was asked if she missed playing Wanda in the MCU, she said:
“No, I don’t. I think it’s been almost 10 years of playing her. And I’ve loved it. And I think the reason why I am not calling Kevin Feige every day with ideas is because I’m really proud of what we were able to do. I think ‘WandaVision’ was a really surprising opportunity.
“If someone were to tell me that I’m fired from Marvel movies, I will feel proud of what we made. And I really am just trying to figure out how to load up other films and characters so it becomes less about the Marvel of it all.”
As of right now, there’s no word on when or if Marvel will call up Olsen again to return for another project. In the meantime, she can actually start looking for those roles that she’s interested in taking! And, if Marvel does come knocking, she doesn’t have to answer the door if she doesn’t want to. She’s in a position right now where she can pretty much take the roles that she wants. If she’s not finding what she’s looking for, she can always create it for herself.
