Elizabeth Olsen’s WandaVision series could be six hours, but is that long enough?

Although WandaVision seems mostly shrouded in mystery yet, Elizabeth Olsen has given us an expectation of how much content Disney+ has planned.

As we wait for Disney+ to arrive, one question that has plagued many of its much-hyped series — The Mandalorian, Cassian Andor, WandaVision, the Loki series, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier — is quite simple: how much of each are we getting?

For one series, we have a more concrete answer. As reported by CBR, Elizabeth Olsen has said, “I think it’s gonna be a total of six hours.” While CBR notes that that could be the standard for all of the Disney+ Marvel series, at least, this writer is inclined to disagree. For instance, The Mandalorian will be eight episodes in its inaugural season, and other reports say that “six to eight episodes” is the plan.

In other words, it doesn’t have to be exactly six episodes, and it could be that there’s potential for expansion for something like Loki, should it succeed as wildly as Disney is probably hoping it will. However, this conservative episode count has quite a few benefits.

First, it means that these series will likely avoid some storytelling issues. Most of Marvel’s generally good Netflix series had some episodes that felt like padding, with the phenomenon being termed “Netflix bloat.” Will six to eight episodes be enough to tell a complete story? That’s still up to the showrunners, but with Game of Thrones currently doing some work in that same space, it’s not like it’s impossible.

Secondly, there may be some budget considerations. As much money as Disney makes, hiring all of the screen actors to reprise their roles adds up over time. Additionally, all that CGI to make Paul Bettany look like the Vision doesn’t come cheaply, either. With Disney+ being priced at the astonishingly reasonable $70 a year, there’s not necessarily a ton of extra room in the budget. The question is: Would you rather have a smaller number of episodes at a higher quality, or a larger number at a lower quality?

It seems perfectly reasonable to say that the former will be the most satisfactory option, and with the first footage of The Mandalorian being as great as it was, it seems like Disney+ is on the right track so far.