VisionQuest features Schitt’s Creek actress as an AI persona

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When WandaVision debuted in 2021, it was a sight for sore eyes. Based on the characters Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and her beloved android Vision (Paul Bettany), the acclaimed Marvel series used the history of TV sitcoms to dig into themes of grief and trauma.

The spinoff Agatha All Along followed in 2024, centring on quick-witted witch Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn). And now, the trilogy is ending with VisionQuest.

The limited series debuts Oct. 14 on Disney+, opening with Vision newly rebooted and hiding from those who wanted to use him as a weapon. While under the radar, he seeks meaning by consulting with the AI personas embedded in his programming, including F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Orla Brady), E.D.I.T.H. (Emily Hampshire), J.A.R.V.I.S. (James D’Arcy), and Ultron (James Spader).

But everything changes when a bounty is placed on his head. He’s soon on the run with a boy named Thomas Shepherd (Ruaridh Mollica), who may be his reincarnated son.

We spoke with Montreal native Hampshire about bringing E.D.I.T.H. to the screen. The actress, who played Stevie Budd in Schitt’s Creek, is also starring in the Crave comedy Slo Pitch. Her upcoming projects include the film Maid of Dishonor and Season 2 of the Crave megahit Heated Rivalry.

Q: Had you been a fan of the MCU or watched WandaVision beforehand?

A: I have now because I said something to one person. I admitted that I didn’t know what the MCU was, which now I very much regret. However, I now have corrected that and have watched everything and am a genuine, massive fan now, especially of WandaVision.

I think I’d never gone into it before because I had this idea of what a superhero movie or show was. The Marvel Universe is not that. It’s actually a really cool way of using superheroes to deliver these human stories, and they’re funny and inventive. Like, WandaVision is like nothing else. It’s amazing.

Q: We first saw E.D.I.T.H. in Spider-Man: Far From Home. How does your version of her build on that?

A: I’m glad you said that because it was important to me that it was building on it and not just some new version of E.D.I.T.H. I thought that if Tony Stark bottled his energy into a pair of sunglasses that he named E.D.I.T.H., for the acronym Even Dead I’m a Hero, and she had all the access to all the weapons and defence systems that he gives to a teenager, what would she be like when she is let out of those glasses?

And that is E.D.I.T.H. that you meet in VisionQuest. She just so wants to experience life on this massive level and is thrill seeking. She’s really like an amusement-park ride that is off the rails.

Q: How did you prepare to play an AI persona? Was it different from anything else?

A: I really approached it like I do everything, which is I try to imagine. I was like, “What must it be like to be an AI?” And the more I thought about it, it was like you’re kind of a codependent, and you are used as a tool and ordered to do things. And if you don’t do it right, you’re just discarded.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized the desire of somebody in that position would be to have some autonomy and experience life. And especially because as an AI, you have all the knowledge — you know everything about what goes into a pizza, but you’ve never gotten to eat the pizza and really experience it. So that to me was E.D.I.T.H.

Q: How does VisionQuest wrap up its trilogy in terms of its major themes?

A: WandaVision was Wanda’s world, and with this we’re really seeing the world through Vision’s eyes for the first time and getting inside his head — quite literally into his mind space. What’s so amazing about this is that it has this propulsive Marvel epic kind of story, but at its heart, it’s a father reuniting with his son, and this intimate family story that is so relatable and really touching.

Q: What are you most excited for viewers to see?

A: Besides all my great costumes, I’m just so excited for people to meet E.D.I.T.H. I am so in love with her. I love that she is always trying to find the game in things.

Q: Were you able to keep any of the costumes?

A: We’re not telling any of the Marvel security that’s here, but I did. I could not leave without a certain sweater, and I would have kept them all if I could.

Q: Finally, there’s a lot of conversation right now around AI. How does VisionQuest fit into that?

A: It’s so interesting that this show is coming out now. It’s really in the zeitgeist of what the conversation is in the world, and I think there is a long history of science fiction being a vehicle to tell real stories of what’s going on in society.

What’s so impressive about this one to me is that it’s ultimately about humanity and being human, and that’s what I found when I really got into trying to figure out who E.D.I.T.H. was. It’s my job as an actor to find the humanity in the character. … And I think that’s the thing that comes out of this story the most — that she is so human.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.