Prior to WandaVision's arrival on Disney+, it was widely reported that Benedict Cumberbatch was set to make a cameo appearance as Doctor Strange in the series finale. When that didn't happen, fans were left beyond disappointed, especially after those Mephisto and Quicksilver theories didn't pan out.
Since then, we've learned that there were once plans for the Sorcerer Supreme to meet the Scarlet Witch before the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness...until there weren't.
Talking to Rolling Stone, head writer Jac Schaeffer addressed WandaVision's alternate ending. "The plan when I came on board was that there would, at the end of the series, be a handoff and that Dr. Strange’s participation would amount to essentially a short cameo," she confirmed. "So early outlines had varying versions of the two of them [Wanda and Dr. Strange] kind of riding off into the sunset together. And it didn’t feel quite right."
"We wanted to fulfill Wanda’s agency and autonomy within this particular story. So it did feel a little tacked on," Schaeffer continued. "Another problem was, if Dr. Strange shows up at just the end, where was he this whole time? I did love writing variations of Dr. Strange, variations on those final beats. It was a pleasure to write for him. There were versions where she was flying past the city limits and then encountered Dr. Strange, that kind of thing."
The writer went on to explain that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was well aware of how much fans were keen to see Strange appear, but agreed that it took too much from Wanda's story.
"Some people might say, 'It would’ve been so cool to see Dr. Strange,' but it would have taken away from Wanda, which is what we didn’t want to do," Schaeffer concluded. "We didn’t want the end of the show to be commoditized to go to the next movie, or, 'Here’s the white guy, let me show you how power works.' That wasn’t what we wanted to say."
The fact that the Scarlet Witch and Sorcerer Supreme were set to fly off together does point to them being allies in the Doctor Strange sequel, though a lot could have changed since production on that movie began (especially after we saw Wanda diving into the pages of the Darkhold).
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is set to be released in theaters on March 25, 2022.