Ever since Wanda Maximoff — played with fiery confidence by Elizabeth Olsen — entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans have been trying to figure out why the heck she sometimes speaks in a thick accent, and sometimes she doesn’t. Some speculate that Wanda has simply adapted to life in the U.S. and therefore lost her accent over time, while others feel that she only abandons it to conceal her true identity.
Wanda’s Sokovian accent is so inconsistent, even WandaVision’s villain Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) poked fun at it by saying, “My, that accent really comes and goes, doesn’t it?” At the conclusion of the Disney+ series, viewers were left wondering which version of Wanda would make an appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. As a trailer for the film suggests, the Wanda in Doctor Strange 2 may not be the Wanda we thought we knew.
Director Sam Raimi chimed in on the issue himself during an interview with Fandango. “The movie is a journey into the multiverse, so you do see different iterations of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, and even Lizzie Olsen’s character of Wanda Maximoff,” he explained. “So, the actors have to play that. It’s a great challenge for them and great fun to direct them playing these altered versions of themselves.”
So basically, Wanda’s accent is due to fact that this iteration of the character is perhaps different than the one we learned so much about in WandaVision. Did this Wanda ever team up with the Avengers, or did she ever lose her brother? Only time will tell.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness arrives in theaters on May 6.
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