WandaVision Was Inspired By Bewitched, But It Turns Out The Marvel Series Also Used Something Very Important From The Classic TV Program
WandaVision holds the distinction of being the first Marvel Studios show to appear on the Disney+ streaming service, taking advantage of the longer-form storytelling afforded a show with episodes. When all is said and done, WandaVision probably remains the best Marvel TV show available on the service. That’s because of the amount of care that went into the replication of the classic sitcoms the show pays homage to because of Wanda’s breakdown. One of the programs referenced by WandaVision was Bewitched, and now I’m learning that a classic Bewitched location was used on the Marvel production.
In WandaVision, Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) is coping with the grief caused by the loss of Vision (Paul Bettany), who was murdered by Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Infinity War. Escaping her sadness, Wanda creates an alternate existence that casts her and Viz as sitcom characters in a world lifted directly from the sitcoms of the 70s, 80s and 90s. To capture the look and feel, WandaVision’s production team took over the legendary Blondie Street in Burbank, California.
Blondie Street offered numerous house facades along a tree-lined street in Los Angeles that played host to Bewitched, I Dream of Jeanie, and The Waltons over the years. The look of Blondie Street is one that fueled most of our childhoods, which made it a perfect location for some of the filming on WandaVision. During an exclusive interview with set director Kathryn Orlando, she spoke to CinemaBlend about the importance of that location and what it brought to the show, telling us:
On this show, because we were working really fast, I had two teams. I had my sitcom team, and then I had the other team that did the (S.H.I.E.L.D.) stuff. So for me, it was a little tricky to go back and forth, but that's just what we do. Yeah. (Shooting there) was really meaningful. Several of the shows had been shot there. Bewitched was shot there. One of the houses we shot in shot was the Bewitched house. It was pretty great. But I think that it's gone now. I think they've taken Blondie Street away. They're turning it into offices, so it's pretty sad. But I'm really grateful that we were able to shoot there.
WandaVision used Blondie Street for the exteriors around Westview, the fictional town that Wanda creates out of whole cloth. The details to the sitcom homages were miraculous, and helped WandaVision earn three Emmy awards (including its win for set and production design). Decisions like that help to create the sitcom authenticity of the program, and immerse us in Wanda’s vision – which is essential to the plot of the show. If you are watching the Marvel movies in order, you get to WandaVision after Avengers: Endgame, so the repercussions of that movie resonate in this series. To embrace Wanda’s grief, we have to buy into her illusion. And that means filming on locations such as this.
You can go back to appreciate the work that went into WandaVision now that the Collector’s Edition is available on 4K Ultra HD Steelbook and Blu-ray Steelbook. Grab your copy, and then start preparing for the wave of upcoming Marvel movies that will be pushing the Multiverse Saga forward in the coming years.
