"Previously On" is the eighth episode of the American television miniseries WandaVision, based on Marvel Comics featuring the characters Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch and Vision.

Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen reprise their respective roles as Vision and Wanda Maximoff from the film series, with Debra Jo Rupp and Kathryn Hahn (Harkness) also starring.

In Salem, 1693, Agatha Harkness is put on trial by a coven of witches led by her mother Evanora for practicing dark magic.

Harkness forces Maximoff to relive key moments in her life, including when she and her brother Pietro were trapped in the rubble next to an unexploded bomb the day their parents died.

Maximoff then relives a fond memory of Vision when they lived at the Avengers Compound, discussing grief and bonding over sitcoms.

Overwhelmed with grief, she used her powers to create a house on the lot, manifest a new version of Vision, and extended her spell across the entire town, turning it into the style of a black-and-white, 1950s sitcom.

She finds them being held captive by Harkness, who mocks Maximoff for not knowing the full extent of her own abilities and using them to create a sitcom-style fantasy world in Westview.

[5][6] He and head writer Jac Schaeffer executive produced alongside Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, and Victoria Alonso.

The writers compared the sequence to the opening of the earlier episode "We Interrupt This Program" since it throws the audience into a new location and tone for the series.

The specifics of this scene's exposition changed a lot during development, and Donney struggled with finding a clear way to explain the new magical concepts that it introduces.

[17] A later scene shows a memory of Maximoff and Vision discussing grief, which Shakman felt was the "center point" of WandaVision.

Phil Owens of TheWrap called this "huge" since all previous human superheroes in the MCU were believed to have been born without abilities, only acquiring them later on.

[11] The episode stars Paul Bettany as Vision, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, Debra Jo Rupp as Sharon Davis, and Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness.

[24][25]: 39:16–39:31  Also starring in the episode are Julian Hilliard as Billy and Jett Klyne as Tommy, Maximoff and Vision's sons;[25]: 41:36  Josh Stamberg as S.W.O.R.D.

Schaeffer gave a suggestion that was adjusted by her assistant, Laura Monti, to get the final line: "What is grief, if not love persevering?"

[38] The effect of the Scarlet Witch appearing in the Mind Stone and being reflected in Maximoff's eyes used footage of Olsen in costume and on wires that was filmed for the battle in the final episode.

[44] DeMarco used Vision's introduction in Avengers: Age of Ultron as the definitive version of the character when approaching the visual effects for him in WandaVision.

Bettany wore a bald cap and face makeup on set to match Vision's color, as well as tracking markers for the visual effects teams to reference.

[34] Complex 3D and digital makeup techniques were then used to create the character, with sections of Bettany's face replaced with CGI on a shot-by-shot basis; the actor's eyes, nose, and mouth were usually the only elements retained.

They took the mixture of technology and lights that were briefly shown in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) when Thanos rips the Mind Stone from Vision's head and used that as the basis of the approach, designing and building the character from the ground up with skeletal, circulatory, respiratory, nervous, and muscular systems.

ILM then added the effects for Maximoff's chaos magic,[48] the look for which was designed by Digital Domain for the series' final episode.

[48] A soundtrack album for the episode was released digitally by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records on March 5, 2021, featuring composer Christophe Beck's score.

[55] Nielsen Media Research, which measures the number of minutes watched by United States audiences on television sets, listed WandaVision as the second most-watched original streaming series for the week of February 22 to 28, 2021.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Kathryn Hahn looms large and seriously in charge of her craft in 'Previously On'—thankfully Elizabeth Olsen proves more than up to the challenge with her own magnetic performance.

Riesman praised the "what is grief" line from Vision,[58] as did Ben Travers of IndieWire who said it was "such a powerful statement [and] such a succinct encapsulation of a profound feeling".

Club, Stephen Robinson gave it a "B" and said a character-driven episode before the finale could have been a "momentum killer" but was glad the series could explore Maximoff's motivations and answer some questions raised since her introduction in Age of Ultron.

[22][60] Holub's colleague Chancellor Agard wished the creatives found a more interesting way to present the flashbacks than a "memory palace with many doors", which he felt was conventional, but this did not detract from the emotions for him.

[22] In contrast, Den of Geek's Rosie Knight praised the skill of the creative team in how they moved between the different "worlds, moments, and atmosphere seamlessly" for the flashback sequences.

[23] Alan Sepinwall at Rolling Stone felt this sequence took advantage of the series' place within a shared universe by bringing together ideas from different films that were not necessarily originally meant to match each other.

[23] Sepinwall likened Olsen's performance to her role in the Facebook Watch series Sorry for Your Loss, calling it "incredibly moving" and agreeing that the episode allowed her to explore the character in ways that the MCU films never did.