WandaVision: The New MCU Disney+ Show Was Filmed In Front Of Studio Audience

This was set to be a big year for Marvel, with Black Widow and Eternals kicking off the next phase of the MCU and the premiere of two shows on Disney+. But while the films and the series Falcon and Winter Soldier will now debut in 2021, we will still see the other series, WandaVision, in 2020. Now stars Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany have revealed some surprising facts about it.

WandaVision sees Bettany and Olsen reprise their Avengers roles as the Vision and Wanda Maximoff (aka the Scarlet Witch), who are attempting to live a normal life in suburbia. As the very strange trailer reveals, the show takes inspiration as much from classic US sitcoms as it does from superhero movies. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, the stars revealed that the first episode fully embraced its sitcom influence by filming in front a live studio audience.

The audience, unsurprisingly, were sworn to secrecy and to recreate the feel of a classic sitcom, the episode was filmed with 1950s lenses and lighting. In addition, crew members were also dressed in '50s-era clothing. "It was insanity," Olsen said. "There was something very meta for my own life because I would visit those tapings as a kid, where my sisters were working [on Full House]."

Bettany also spoke about the unusual experience of shooting in front of the audience. "I was frightened," he said. "I hadn't been on stage for ages. But the combined spirit really just launched us into a space where we could behave like idiots. And we really have. Absolute idiots."

WandaVision also stars Kathryn Hahn as Wanda and Vision's nosy neighbor Agnes and Teyonah Parris as the adult version Monica Rambeau, the character who appeared as a child in the '90s-set movie Captain Marvel. The show doesn't yet have a confirmed premiere date, but it is expected before the end of the year.

The Vision has a long and complicated history in Marvel's comic books, so for more on this iconic character, check out GameSpot's guide to Vision's comic book history.