Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for WandaVision’s finale.
As WandaVision came to an end, it became clear that scores of the many fan theories fans had about the series were false.
The directors had admitted there would be a “letdown” for various fan theories. Actress Emma Caulfield, who played Dottie, joins the choir regarding how her character was set up as a bigger deal than she ended up being.
Dottie’s appearance
Dottie Jones first appears in episode 2 of the series as the local “Queen Bee” of Westview. She’s a wealthy socialite desperate for control who puts down others with sharp insults.
Dottie and Wanda have a confrontation when they heard voices on the radio (an attempt by the S.W.O.R.D. agents outside Westview to contact her) and causing the glass she held to crack.
This makes Dottie bleed, with both women jarred to see red in this black-and-white world.
Dottie disappears at the end of the episode, which led to major fan speculation that the character played a bigger role down the line. S.W.O.R.D. agents put together who each of the townspeople really are in this sitcom world, but Dottie is not among them.
The fact she was played by Caulfield (Anya on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) added to it as surely the show wouldn’t cast a popular genre actress in a bit part.
Theories abounded on everything of Dottie being X-Men villainess Emma Frost using mind control on the town to Clea (girlfriend of Doctor Strange) to even the Asgardian villainess the Enchantress.
As it turned out, Dottie’s identity was one no one picked.
The truth about Dottie
Caulfield had teased fans on Dottie’s return in the finale, with many believing the revelation Dottie was somehow in league with Agnes, aka Agatha Harkness, in manipulating Wanda.
In the WandaVision finale, Agatha releases Wanda’s control over the town, so the citizens of Westview reveal how it’s really felt being Wanda’s puppets all this time.
“Dottie” is actually Sarah Procter, a local housewife who tearfully “pitches” Wanda a “storyline” that will allow her to see her daughter who, in Wanda’s warped Westview, Dottie doesn’t have.
The fan reaction to the non-reveal was poor. It wasn’t helped by how the episode had also revealed the truth behind Wanda’s “resurrected” brother Pietro (Evan Peters). Fans hoped he indicated a connection between the MCU and the X-Men.
Instead, “Pietro” was simply Ralph Bohner, a local actor used by Agatha as part of her plot against Wanda. While some fans praise the twist, others are annoyed at how the connection ended up being nothing.
The backlash
Speaking to the Still Watching podcast, Caulfield admitted she knew full well she was nothing but a red herring and that the fan reaction to the truth about “Dottie” would be rough.
“It was impossible for people to not be disappointed! I’m trying not to feel disingenuous, but knowing full well [their theories were] just so far removed from the truth. That’s tough, being the red herring. Again, I hope no one eggs my house. It was very intended to have me show up in that fashion. Calculate is not the right word but it’s purposeful. You’re not going to have me show up and, and immediately think there’s nothing to my being there. It’s obviously going to pull in a similar fan base [to Buffy]. That was intended.”
Fans are still intent on there being more to “Dottie,” noting how Sarah Procter is the name of a woman executed at the Salem Witch Trials. The show already established Agatha’s involvement in Salem, but Caulfield demurred, “I don’t know anything about that.”
The actress shared with Cheddar how she enjoyed the various fan theories and “obviously I knew what the truth was, and I couldn’t say anything. These are all so good, and I wish that some of these were actually true.”
While fans can be hopeful for a return, it seems “Dottie” was nothing more than a distraction for the true storytelling tricks of WandaVision.
WandaVision season 1 streams on Disney+.