VisionQuest

Premise

After being resurrected in WandaVision (2021), the android Vision lives in hiding while he attempts to understand who he is by communicating with various AI personas that are embedded in his programming. When a bounty is placed on Vision's head, he goes on the run with a mysterious teenager who may be his reincarnated son.

Cast and characters

Paul Bettany as Vision:A superpowered android and former Avenger created using the AIs J.A.R.V.I.S. and Ultron as well as the Mind Stone. Vision was killed in the film Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and then resurrected, with an all-white appearance and no memories or emotions, in the series WandaVision (2021). After his memories were restored at the end of that series, Vision is now struggling to reconnect with those memories because he has no emotional attachment to them, with showrunner Terry Matalas calling him a "blank slate"; he compared this journey to that of the Star Trek character Spock in the film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). Vision sees various AI personas in his mind, and like them, assumes a human avatar when he retreats into it.

James Spader as Ultron:An AI created by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner for a peacekeeping program, before developing a god complex and attempting to eradicate humanity. Since his android body was destroyed at the end of the film Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Ultron has been uploaded into the mind of his creation, Vision, where he has access to the internet and spends his time painting. Matalas said the interactions between Vision and Ultron were a central dynamic for the series, with Spader declaring that Ultron both loves and hates Vision, and that the two characters have a "sort of father-son-therapist-psychopath" relationship.

Ruaridh Mollica as Tommy Maximoff / Speed and Thomas Shepherd:Tommy Maximoff is the speedster son of Vision and Wanda Maximoff. In the series Agatha All Along (2024), his twin brother Billy Maximoff placed Tommy's soul into the body of Thomas Shepherd, a teenager who drowned. Mollica described Tommy as a grifter and small-time thief who is "lost in his life" and searching for a purpose.

Todd Stashwick as Paladin:A bounty hunter who is looking for Vision. Matalas compared Paladin to the Star Wars bounty hunter Boba Fett. Stashwick described the character as a badass and said he was similar to previous roles that Matalas had written for him.

T'Nia Miller as Jocasta: A cunning and powerful robot driven by revenge Much like his "unbelievable" chemistry with Bettany, Spader had one with Miller due to the "mysterious backstory" Ultron has with Jocasta, which Matalas cannot wait for the audience to see in VisionQuest. While the two characters may have a romance as in the comic book canon, Matalas prefers for the audience to wait and see.

Production

Background

In March 2009, Marvel Studios hired writers to help come up with creative ways to launch its lesser-known properties, including the Marvel Comics character Vision. Paul Bettany was cast as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) incarnation of Vision for the film Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). This version of the character is an android who is partially created from J.A.R.V.I.S., an AI assistant voiced by Bettany in earlier MCU films. Following Vision's death in the film Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Bettany was revealed to be portraying a reassembled and reactivated version of the character in the Disney+ series WandaVision (2021). This version was referred to as "White Vision" or simply "The Vision", and has an all-white appearance, similar to when the comic book character was resurrected with an all-white body and no memories or emotions.

Jac Schaeffer, the head writer of WandaVision, signed a three-year overall television deal with Marvel Studios in May 2021 to develop additional Disney+ projects. By October 2022, they were developing a series called Vision Quest, which would center on Bettany's "White Vision". Schaeffer was set as head writer after working on another WandaVision spin-off series, Agatha All Along (2024). Development of a Vision series was rumored as early as March 2021. The name "Vision Quest" was previously used for a comic book storyline in West Coast Avengers vol. 2 #42–45 (1988–1989); it was unclear if the series would be a direct adaptation of that comic. A writers' room was set to be formed in early November 2022, to include Peter Cameron, Megan McDonnell, and Eileen Shim. Cameron and McDonnell worked on WandaVision and Agatha All Along. Vision Quest was expected to follow "White Vision" as he attempts to regain his memories and humanity, with potential for Elizabeth Olsen to reprise her MCU role as Vision's wife Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch.

Development

By October 2023, Marvel Studios shifted its creative philosophy to a more traditional television development process, moving away from head writers and beginning to hire dedicated showrunners for its series. By May 2024, Schaeffer was no longer developing Vision Quest due to her focus on making Agatha All Along, as well as for "personal reasons" according to Bettany, with Terry Matalas joining to redevelop the series and serve as its showrunner. Marvel Studios hired Matalas after being impressed with his work on the third season of Star Trek: Picard (2023), with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige being a particular fan of the Star Trek franchise. Matalas was also set to direct for the series, alongside Christopher J. Byrne, Vincenzo Natali, and Agatha All Along episodic director Gandja Monteiro.

Matalas met with Schaeffer upon joining the project, and Marvel Studios executive Brad Winderbaum said it would be a "love letter" to the work Schaeffer had done, while being unique to Matalas. The series was still being referred to by Marvel as Vision Quest, but The Hollywood Reporter said this was not its official title. Disney was referring to the series as simply Vision by May 2025, before the title was officially announced as VisionQuest that October. The series has been described as the final installment of the trilogy that began with WandaVision and continued with Agatha All Along. Describing the relationship to those other two series, Matalas said VisionQuest was more of a sequel to WandaVision, while touching on some elements from Agatha All Along. Marvel Studios's Mary Livanos, who worked on those two series, returned as an executive producer for VisionQuest, alongside Schaeffer and Byrne, while Roopesh Parekh was a producer. The series is being released under Marvel Studios' "Marvel Television" label.

Writing

A writers' room opened during the week of May 20, 2024, featuring Cindy Appel, Michael Taylor, Christopher Monfette, Nicole Falsetti, and Matthew Okumura, alongside Matalas. Matalas described VisionQuest as an adventure, mystery drama, while also having elements of surreal comedy. The basis of the series was inspired by two scenes: the final conversation between Vision and his creator, the villainous AI Ultron, in Age of Ultron; and the "Ship of Theseus" discussion between the two versions of Vision in WandaVision. The show picks up with what Vision does now in the world, revealing that it has been some time since they have seen Vision flying around and he has been spending time amongst humanity, deciding what it means being human, having a bit of a different perspective than he used to, now questioning what it means to be himself, with the story consisting of someone going through an identity crisis with the audience seeing, feeling and hearing that happen in ways by going inside and outside the protagonist's head due to the story taking place within Vision's mind space whereas the rest of the plot takes place in the rest of the MCU's proper world, with the juxtaposition of the two tones being really fun; the mind space is located in Vision's quantum processors and Vision uses it to live out his best AI-version of a human life with other AI bots that currently live with him under human avatars with their own quirks that help him with different facets of humanity, while outside of his mind space, Vision deals with Paladin and the potential of Ultron possibly escaping out from his mind back to the world. Vision recalls the existence of his son Tommy Maximoff thanks to Ultron, setting off what Matalas calls "a generation story" between Ultron, Vision and Tommy with a "three-way father-son dynamic".

VisionQuest is set around 2028, years after the events of WandaVision, at the end of which Vision's memories were restored, and focuses on the character's struggle to reconnect with those memories because he has no emotional attachment to them, causing him to undergo an identity crisis. As part of his attempts to understand who he is, Vision interacts with the human population during the day, while at night he immerses himself in a virtual reality (VR) within his own mind—a space resembling a massive mansion filled with environments he can change at will. There, he communicates with various AI personas that are embedded in his programming; all of them assume human avatars and possess distinct characteristics that help Vision understand different qualities and abilities. Bettany said the AI personas are inside Vision's mind because the character had "been saving and copying and pasting them to keep them alive", including Ultron, whom Bettany stated "has to be kept behind a pretty impressive firewall because he's a psychopath". Ultron returns in VisionQuest following his apparent death in Age of Ultron because the creative team wanted to include a character who was "really strong for Vision to play off of", and since they did not have access to Wanda, Ultron was chosen instead. Despite Wanda not appearing in the series, Matalas confirmed that Vision is aware of her death in the MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). Vision is in the process to work through quite a few things and tapping back into the feelings of who he was as he has all those stored inside him, which are painful to access, definitely having a perspective on Maximoff very early on and a point of view on her death, not knowing quite what to do with his emotions inside him like his wife and trying to figure it out.

Casting

Bettany was confirmed to be reprising his MCU role of Vision with the news of the series' redevelopment in May 2024. In August, James Spader was set to reprise his role as Ultron from Age of Ultron. Todd Stashwick, who worked with Matalas on the television series 12 Monkeys (2015–2018) and Picard, joined the cast a month later. In January 2025, Faran Tahir was revealed to be reprising his role as Raza from the first MCU film, Iron Man (2008). Ruaridh Mollica joined the cast a month later as a character referred to as "Tucker", and T'Nia Miller was cast in the leading role of the robot Jocasta in May. Soon after, Emily Hampshire was revealed to be portraying the key role of E.D.I.T.H., an AI introduced in the MCU film Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) where she was voiced by assistant editor Dawn Michelle King.

Matalas revealed in August 2025 that Stashwick was playing the comics character Paladin, and that Picard star Orla Brady was portraying the AI F.R.I.D.A.Y., replacing Kerry Condon who voiced the character in several MCU projects. Mary McDonnell was revealed as part of the cast the next month. In October, several more cast members were revealed: Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer as D.U.M.-E and U, respectively, two robots seen in the MCU films; and James D'Arcy as J.A.R.V.I.S., the AI originally voiced by Bettany in the MCU films. D'Arcy portrayed Edwin Jarvis, the human inspiration for the AI J.A.R.V.I.S., in several MCU projects. That same month, Mollica was revealed to be portraying Tommy Maximoff / Speed and Thomas Shepherd, taking over from Jett Klyne who portrayed Tommy in WandaVision and the MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). In November, Lauren Morais and Diane Morgan were revealed to be respectively portraying Lisa Molinari and an associate of Paladin. In April 2026, Cristian Lavin was revealed to have been cast in the role of a mercenary.

Design

Will Hughes-Jones was the production designer, with Sarah Young as the costume designer after she was an assistant costume designer on Age of Ultron.

Filming

Principal photography began by March 14, 2025, at Pinewood Studios in London, under the working title Tin Man, with Byrne, Monteiro, Natali, and Matalas directing. Christopher Ross, Ben Smithard, and Neville Kidd were the cinematographers. Location shooting took place in and around London. Filming wrapped in late July 2025, and was completed in August, when Matalas indicated that production spanned seven months.

Post-production

Amelia Allwarden is editing the series after working on the Marvel Studios series Echo (2024).

Music

Mick Giacchino, the son of frequent MCU composer Michael Giacchino, was revealed to be composing the series' score in March 2026.

Marketing

Footage from the series was included in a sizzle reel that was shown at Disney's upfront presentation in May 2025. Bettany and Winderbaum promoted the series during a Marvel Animation and Marvel Television panel at the 2025 New York Comic Con, where footage was shown. Mekishana Pierre and Nick Romano at Entertainment Weekly noted the "trippy setting" of a mansion in Vision's mind where he sees personifications of other AIs from the MCU, comparing this to the "reality-warping vibes" of WandaVision and Agatha All Along. The appearance of Spader as Ultron in both robot and human forms was also noted by commentators. Bettany and Matalas promoted the series during the 53rd Saturn Awards ceremony in March 2026, and Bettany appeared at Disney's May upfront presentation to announce the premiere date and show more footage.

At Disney's D23 convention in August 2026, a VisionQuest booth displayed a screen framed like a painting which showed a mysterious figure engulfed in flames. The image would glitch to show glimpses of Ultron. Commentators believed the fiery figure could be the character Jim Hammond / Human Torch, an android whose body was used to create Vision in the comics. Also at the convention, Feige, Bettany, and Spader promoted the series during a panel and debuted the first trailer before it was released online. The trailer was described as "trippy" by Kirsten Chuba and Aaron Couch at The Hollywood Reporter, "mind-bending" by James Hibbs for Radio Times, and "as weird, if not weirder, than WandaVision" by Michael McWhertor of Polygon.

Release

VisionQuest will have its first two episodes screened at the 2026 BFI London Film Festival on October 12, ahead of its scheduled premiere on Disney+ two days later. The series will consist of eight episodes and be part of Phase Six of the MCU.

Future

In September 2026, Matalas said he had ideas for how the story of VisionQuest could continue in future seasons, while Bettany said the series was introducing a "new type" of Vision and would be a "springboard" for the character's future MCU appearances.