How ‘WandaVision’ Writers Collaborated For Iconic ‘What Is Grief?’ Line

One particular quote from Marvel Studios’ “WandaVision” has become quite memorable, with fans either loving or loathing it. “What is grief if not love persevering?” Vision asks, and it seems actor Paul Bettany pushed for such an iconic line to be created.

Showrunner Jac Schaeffer explained that Bettany, who has played Jarvis/Vision in seven Marvel Cinematic Universe films, wanted the synthezoid to say something concise and profound.

“Laura Donney wrote an extraordinary episode, and as we were moving toward production on the scene, Paul was really hungering for, what’s the thing that Vision can say that will bring her comfort?” Schaeffer told the New York Times. “He wanted a line that, in a very Vision way, would perfectly encapsulate a definition of grief, like in ‘Age of Ultron,’ how he says, ‘A thing isn’t beautiful because it lasts.’”

It took a couple of attempts to get the line just right.

“So I came up with a line that was something along the lines of, ‘What is grief but love surviving?’ We agreed that wasn’t quite it and we were turning it over and trying to figure it out,” the executive producer said.

Schaeffer, who also wrote the upcoming "Black Widow" movie, gave credit to her assistant for putting the finishing touch on the line.

“My incredibly talented assistant, Laura Monti, came up with the word ‘persevering.’ We all believe that the line was born of the enormous amount of collaboration and unity on the show. So many talented women, specifically, came up with it.”

“WandaVision” dives headfirst into Wanda Maximoff’s (Elizabeth Olsen) grief after losing her brother, her country, five years of her life and her true love. The scene in episode 8 is a flashback to just after her brother died and she moved to the U.S. Vision sees Wanda drowning in her misery and comforts her.

The series was initially structured as the stages of grief, so it made sense to address it so directly. Of course, Schaeffer didn’t know the praise and memes that were to come.

“I did not know that that line would be a sensation, but it did feel at the time that it was the perfect distillation of the show,” she said.

The complete first season of “WandaVision” is streaming on Disney+.