Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany reveal the origin of the "What is grief?" line
“What is grief, if not love persevering?” was one of the most memorable lines in WandaVision, but the actors had to workshop it while on set together.
“That was a line that was something else, and I can’t remember what it was,” Elizabeth Olsen said during a panel at Space Con 2025. “Paul was like, ‘I think we really need to figure out this line. I feel like there’s something we’re missing.’ And then he and the showrunner’s assistant really landed on that line.”
“\[Jac Schaeffer’s\] assistant walked in with a coffee, and I can’t remember what I had got to,” Paul Bettany said. “It was like, ‘What is grief, if not love, something.’ And she came in and said, ‘Persevering.’ And we were like, ‘That’s it.’ I get lots of love for that line, but when you watch it, you’ll see that the entire thing actually plays on Lizzie’s face.”
“That was a line that was something else, and I can’t remember what it was,” Elizabeth Olsen said during a panel at Space Con 2025. “Paul was like, ‘I think we really need to figure out this line. I feel like there’s something we’re missing.’ And then he and the showrunner’s assistant really landed on that line.”
“\[Jac Schaeffer’s\] assistant walked in with a coffee, and I can’t remember what I had got to,” Paul Bettany said. “It was like, ‘What is grief, if not love, something.’ And she came in and said, ‘Persevering.’ And we were like, ‘That’s it.’ I get lots of love for that line, but when you watch it, you’ll see that the entire thing actually plays on Lizzie’s face.”
Commentaires
I’ve watched a scattering of Marvel movies, but opportunistically. If I’d seen one with Wanda or Vision, I didn’t really remember them and certainly not their romance or what I later pieced together was a tragic separation. Not having those puzzle pieces wasn’t essential to the story, which is both impressive and perfect to draw in casual viewers who heard buzz and got curious.
I was going say DD but I've seen people who think JJ or Punisher were the best shows.
It seriously bums me out that we probably won't ever get anything as good and creative as that, Hawkeye, or Loki again on a TV screen again.
If we're talking about all of Marvel TV, Netflix included, then i still think it's Daredevil. That show is just on a whole different level compared to everything else.
One of the most beautiful, profound and truthful statements I've ever heard and it 100% came from a Marvel show.
And then the internet had to internet and turned it into a meme. Not that it cheapened the quality of the line, I just wish we could leave some things untouched sometimes.
Master Chief: "After I'm through with earth..."
Cortana: "Don't make a girl a promise if you know you can't keep it"
Edit: a year old? I forgot this is from Civil War
/s
"Do you think God lives in heaven because he fears his own creation" - Steve Buscemi, one of the Spy Kids movies
"I see now the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant, it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are" - Mewtwo, Pokemon the first movie
"The question that once haunted my being has been answered; the future can be changed, my choices are my own, and yet, how ironic, for I now find I have no choice at all. I am a warrior: let the battle be joined." - Dinobot, Beast Wars
"I have slept for so long my dreams have been dark ones, but now I am awakened. Now the scattered elements of my being are rejoined. Now I am whole, and the darkness cannot stand before me." - Kopaka, Bionicle
https://i.sstatic.net/pk17a.jpg
"And a lean, silent figure slowly fades into the gathering darkness, aware at last that in this world, with great power there must also come -- great responsibility!"
No one actually says it to Peter.
Like, if I’m walking down the street and I see someone about to walk into a hole in the ground, and I decide NOT to say anything, then I am partly responsible for what happens next. If I have the power to divert hurricanes and stop earthquakes, then I am partly responsible for the deaths that occur when I DON’T do so. The greater your power, the greater your responsibility.
-Jordan Peterson, a notable atheist and terrible person.
-Uncle Iroh
>”*Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. True humility is the antidote to shame.*”
- Guybrush Threepwood, The Secret of Monkey Island
*"All is excruciating pain. I breathe fire and torment. I birth a world of suffering, to mire and plague. In one fleeting moment, lives come and go, ever moving towards the unknown. And in that fleeting moment, they cry for the answer to the question: Why, given life, are they meant to suffer. To die... As fragmented, imperfect beings, yours is a never-ending quest. A quest to find your purpose, knowing your end is assured. To find the strength to continue, when all strength has left you. To find joy, even as darkness descends... And amidst deepest despair, light everlasting."*
That and:
*"So let there be no way back. From that temptation, I sunder us. No more shall man have wings to bear him to paradise. Henceforth, he shall walk,"*
~Venat - Final Fantasy XIV
"Naught lasts forever, yet all persists unto eternity." - The Seneschal, Dragon's Dogma
A nice quote about the impermance of things and beings and yet how everything leaves a mark or contributes to the ongoing cycle of life and death.
You also watched Metabots on FoxKids.
I absolutely did *want* to watch Medabots though 😂
-Angel (spinoff show of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Truly my favorite line from television ever, and the line about grief is my second. I’m a therapist and have quoted both in session.
"we need a plan of attack/I have a plan: attack"
"At long last (we'll defeat Hydra)/At long last is lasting a little long"
"(I won't bow) to men like you/There are no men like me/there are always men like you"
I swear there's a few more but not springing to mind atm.
-George Lopez, Sharkboy and Lavagirl
Robert Rodriguez is genuinely hilarious for doing this with his kids movies
>**Frodo:** I wish it need not have happened in my time.
>
>**Gandalf:** And so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
>"This is all the unexpressed love, right? The grief that will remain with us, you know, until we pass because we didn't-- we never get enough time with each other, right? No matter if someone lives till 60, 15, or 99. I hope this grief stays with me because it's the unexpressed love that I never got to tell her."
Via YouTube: https://youtu.be/_u_TswLQ4ws
It seems to echo the same sentiment. Regardless, it's a beautiful reframing in either case.
Elizabeth II's "grief is the price we pay for love" implies that the first emotion is merely a karmic curse felt in payment for the second.
"Laura Monti -- Banger line finisher."
I've dealt with my grief for a long time, thinking that I needed to stop or get over it at some point, but hearing that line broke that wide open and changed my perspective. This deep sadness is just an extension and reflection of how equally deeply we loved who we've lost.
I lost mine over 15 years ago when I was a kid, but he's the one I think of when I think about that quote.
“To grieve deeply, is to have loved fully”
When he passed away last September I started my eulogy with “As a wise Android once said: “What is Grief but Love Persevering?”
It’s gotten me through my times of mourning.