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Elizabeth Olsen won’t return as Scarlet Witch in the next Avengers movies

Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Marvel Studios

Back in 2014, Elizabeth Olsen made her MCU debut as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in a post-credits scene for Captain America: The Winter Soldier ahead of her leading role in Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015. The actress has been a part of every Avengers movie since, but she’s sitting out of the next two films, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, it was noted that filming will begin soon in London for the next two Avengers movies. Olsen had recently been in London herself working on a different movie, and she told THR that she’s returned to America to film a pilot.

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“I’m back [in the States],” said Olsen. “I just finished [Panic Carefully]. I’m moving on to filming a pilot for FX [called Seven Sisters].”

Olsen’s character hasn’t appeared on-screen since 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, when Wanda appeared to sacrifice her life to redeem herself after taking a villainous turn in the story. Wanda’s body was never found, but she was missing and presumed dead as of last year’s Disney+ series Agatha All Along. During the THR interview, Olsen explained why she’s branched out beyond Marvel since her apparent departure from the franchise.

“I didn’t realize this until about six years ago, but because Marvel and its influence takes up so much physical time and space in the world, it’s really important for me to make choices outside of Marvel that reflect my own taste,” said Olsen. “Your taste does create the artist that you are, and that wasn’t something I was thinking about when I first started working. So the opportunity to return to films like [The Assessment] is a reflection of the people I want to work with and my own personal taste.”

Olsen’s former Avengers co-star, Chris Evans has also shot down reports about his return for the next two films. Similarly, Scarlett Johanssont recently reiterated that she has no plans to reprise her role as Black Widow after the character’s death in Avengers: Endgame. Thus far, Robert Downey Jr. is the only original cast member slated to return for Doomsday and Secret Wars, and he’ll be playing Doctor Doom instead of Iron Man.

Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
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