I hope there isn’t a season 2.

Spoiler Warning

One common thought that I find running through my head when I see a great piece of media is “that was brilliant, I really hope they never make a sequel.” But the industry loves money almost as much as the public really hates letting things go, and those equations come together with the result being franchises ultimately run into the ground and leaving people with a bad taste in their mouth.

Thankfully the pendulum appears to be swinging back to the point where more networks understand the benefits of letting shows end with dignity. So with that being said, I really hope Disney does the right thing and never creates a second WandaVision season. After binging all nine episodes I can’t honestly imagine how they would run a second season and keep the content fresh and dignified.

But first, a recap on what WandaVision was all about. WandaVision takes place in the MCU roughly around the time of the Avengers: End Game ending. Tony Stark used the Infinity Gauntlet to snap back everyone Thanos had wiped out, and Wanda Maximoff is still grieving the loss of Vision. She travels to Westview New Jersey to the plot of land she planned on settling down in with Vision and in her rage and grief emits a massive blast of magical energy that converts the entire town into her own sitcom. Why a sitcom? Because the format reminds her of her childhood before her parents were killed. And we know she’s crazy because she dreams of living in New Jersey.

But Wanda’s antics of living out her dream sitcom quickly put her on SWORD’s (the organization that replaced SHIELD) villain list. When Wanda created the world of Westview she took thousands of people hostage and mind controlled them to act out her version of their characters. We learn at several points that the characters are very much aware of what is going on and they all experience Wanda’s intense suffering and pain on a constant basis. A lot of children are locked in their rooms simply because Wanda didn’t have a purpose for them in the show.

WandaVision inevitably needed a big baddie and that turned out to be Agatha Harkness. Agatha isn’t really a villain in the comics and she isn’t exactly a villain here either. Rather she recognizes Wanda as the Scarlet Witch and at least shows some concern for the amount of damage Wanda could inflict as a being of insane power who also happens to be incredibly mentally unstable.

Wanda ultimately comes to terms with her grief and allows her hex on Westview to fall, not only freeing the citizens but losing her creation of Vision and presumably her manifested children in the process.

So what does this mean for the series going forward?

  • Wanda scrambles Agatha’s brains, essentially shelving her for future use as the MCU needs her. I expect one of two scenarios including one where Agatha’s expertise on dealing with witches is needed, and another where a villain (let’s say Loki) finds Agatha and restores her mind to recruit her. Bonus third option for Agatha restoring her mind herself and coming back as a villain.
  • The White Vision also has his brains scrambled, but in a more positive way. Westview Vision essentially implants the life and personality of the now-dead Vision into his neural net, meaning while the original Vision is still dead the things that made him Vision can continue. As always, death is never permanent in comic book universes. I expect Black Widow will also pull a death trick.
  • Monica Rambeau will most likely be in Captain Marvel 2 with her new powers.
  • Wanda is going to have a hard time in Phase 4. We the audience know that she’s sorry for what she did, but it doesn’t change the fact that she held thousands of people hostage, inflicted mental torture on them, for her own deluded fantasy. 26 deaths incited the drafting of the Sokovia Accords in the MCU. There is no way this event doesn’t cause some sort of rippling effect down the line.
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will at least partially focus on Wanda seeking out Strange to learn more about her powers. Maybe we’ll learn that Wanda’s children were really just pulled from an alternate universe, maybe one where Wanda dies, and she’ll get the children she wanted. Who knows.

WandaVision is one of the most unique creations to come out of the MCU, even if its primary purpose is to connect the dots for the Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel movies. The nine episode season is probably one of the best things we’ll see in the first half of 2021.

But WandaVision’s purpose for existing, at least in the overall plot, is over. Wanda created Westview out of her grief and pain, and we end with her seemingly ready to move on (perhaps with new Vision). A second season could only be seen as uncreatively treading old ground. The sitcom format mostly faded away on the back half, and with that plot point being the basis for WandaVision I can’t imagine them trying to force it back in for another set of nine episodes.

I can see WandaVision returning as an episode in Marvel’s upcoming What If anthology, an episode that asks what if Wanda never gave up Westview. It won’t be in season one since Wanda isn’t on the list of credits, but maybe season 2. There are endless possibilities in What If that don’t need to worry about continuity.