Elizabeth Olsen is Scarlet Witch in The Avengers: Age of Ultron -according to Samuel Jackson

With the Marvel Phase 2 ball already rolling with Iron Man 3 last summer and Thor: The Dark World early next month, Marvels' The Avengers: Age of Ultron is fast approaching. Writer-director Joss Whedon and his cast and crew are prepping up this grand sequel. Among the new characters that will be improved in the Age of Ultron is the mutant Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver. While it was reported that Aaron Taylor-Johnson had entered talks to play Quicksilver and by now Marvel has not yet made an official announcement, it can be safely assumed that he will indeed end up playing the part. As for Scarlet Witch, Saoirse Ronan had initially been strongly considered for the part, but denies any involvement with the project (some sources say she declined the part, which led us to our own speculations). Not much later, Elizabeth Olsen has been in the rumor mill to be taking on the role of the Scarlet Witch instead. Again, no confirmations have been released by the studio as of yet. But this week, Samuel Jackson has spilled the beans on her involvement, and confirms, yes, Elizabeth Olsen will indeed be Scarlet Witch. [hit the jump to continue]

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Jackson reiterated a couple of facts about Age of Ultron that have been in various stages of confirmation over the past few months and revealed...

“I don’t think we begin shooting before March of next year. I know we’re shooting in London, that James Spader is Ultron and going to be the bad guy, and that we added Ms. [Elizabeth] Olsen [who will play the Scarlet Witch], but I don’t know what she’s doing, if she’s on the inside or the outside. I haven’t seen a script.”
According to Collider, Marvel has yet to confirm either Olsen or Taylor-Johnson as Scarlet Witch or Quicksilver and Jackson certainly isn’t in a position to announce casting, but given that we last heard that Olsen was in “final negotiations” for her role, it seems pretty safe to go ahead and pencil her in for the Scarlet Witch character.  As for Taylor-Johnson, he has spoken publicly about his negotiations over the Quicksilver role, so one assumes he’s just in a different stage of the dealmaking; when six or seven picture deals are on the line, there’s plenty to hash out with regards to the actor’s contract.

The Age of Ultron begins May 1, 2015.