Agatha All Along


Agatha All Along is an American television miniseries created by Jac Schaeffer for the streaming service Disney+, based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Agatha Harkness. A spin-off from the miniseries WandaVision, it is the 11th television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe produced by Marvel Studios and the first to be released under its Marvel Television label. The series shares continuity with the films of the MCU. Schaeffer served as showrunner and lead director.
Kathryn Hahn reprises her role as Agatha Harkness from WandaVision, with Joe Locke, Debra Jo Rupp, Aubrey Plaza, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Okwui Okpokwasili, Patti LuPone, Evan Peters, Maria Dizzia, Paul Adelstein, and Miles Gutierrez-Riley also starring. Development began in October 2021 with Schaeffer and Hahn attached, and the series was formally announced the next month. Schaeffer, Rachel Goldberg, and Gandja Monteiro were set as directors in early 2023 ahead of filming, which took place from January to May 2023 at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, and in Los Angeles. Cast and crew returned from WandaVision, including the series' musical team. Several titles were announced for the series as part of a marketing campaign before the official title of Agatha All Along—after the song of the same name from WandaVision—was announced in May 2024.
Agatha All Along premiered on Disney+ on September 18, 2024, and ran for nine episodes until October 30, as part of Phase Five of the MCU. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances of Hahn, Locke, LuPone and Plaza, as well as the plot twists, character development, and portrayal of queer themes. For her performance, Hahn received a Golden Globe Award nomination. The series also earned three Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

Premise

Three years after being trapped under a magical spell in the town of Westview, New Jersey, at the end of the miniseries WandaVision, the witch Agatha Harkness escapes with the help of a mysterious teenager who wishes to face the trials of the legendary Witches' Road. Without her magical powers, Agatha and the teen form a new coven of witches to face the trials while contending with some of Agatha's old enemies.

Cast and characters

  • Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness:
A witch who was trapped under the spell of Wanda Maximoff as "Agnes O'Connor" in the series finale of WandaVision. Agatha forms a new coven of witches after escaping from the spell and finding herself powerless. Executive producer Mary Livanos described Agatha as both heartfelt and dangerous, and a survivor who needs to learn to work within a coven to regain her power. Hahn enjoyed getting to the root of what is broken in Agatha underneath her sass and sarcasm.
A "familiar" with a dark sense of humor who acts as the assistant to Agatha's coven. He is referred to as "Teen" by the other characters, who are unable to perceive his name or any identifying information about him because of a "Glamour"—a sigil hex—placed upon him. Locke initially described the character as "very thoughtful and kind" as well as impulsive, with "fanboy-esque" feelings about witchcraft and a dream to join Agatha's coven and travel the Witches' Road. The character is revealed to be William Kaplan, a Jewish teen who dies during a car accident and whose body is inhabited by the soul of Wanda and Vision's son, Billy Maximoff, shortly after his "death" in the finale of WandaVision. To portray Billy's magic, Locke worked with the same movement coach Elizabeth Olsen trained with for her previous MCU appearances as Wanda.
  • Debra Jo Rupp as Sharon Davis:
A Westview, New Jersey, resident whom Agatha enlists to her coven, standing in for a required "green witch". Much to her frustration, she continues to be referred to as "Mrs. Hart", the character she was forced to play in the WandaVision sitcom.
  • Aubrey Plaza as Death / Rio Vidal: The original Green Witch and Agatha's former lover, later revealed to be the embodiment of death
  • Sasheer Zamata as Jennifer "Jen" Kale: A bound sorceress and member of Agatha's coven who is a potions expert
  • Ali Ahn as Alice Wu-Gulliver:
A member of Agatha's coven and an ex-police officer who is a protector witch. Alice's family has been afflicted by a generational curse that causes them to be haunted by a demon.
  • Okwui Okpokwasili as Vertigo: A member of the Salem Seven
  • Patti LuPone as Lilia Calderu:
A 450-year-old Sicilian witch and member of Agatha's coven who experiences time in a non-linear fashion, and whose skill is in divination. Chloe Camp portrays a young Lilia.
  • Evan Peters as Ralph Bohner:
A former resident of Westview who was previously trapped within the fictional WandaVision sitcom and controlled by Agatha to pose as Wanda's twin brother Pietro Maximoff
  • Maria Dizzia as Rebecca Kaplan: William's mother
  • Paul Adelstein as Jeff Kaplan: William's father
  • Miles Gutierrez-Riley as Eddie: William's supportive boyfriend
Reprising their roles from WandaVision as Westview residents who play characters within Agatha's Agnes of Westview reality are Emma Caulfield as Sarah Proctor / "Dottie Jones", David Payton as John Collins / "Herb Feltman", David Lengel as Sarah's husband Harold Proctor / "Phil Jones", Asif Ali as Abilash Tandon / "Norm Gentilucci", and Amos Glick as a pizza delivery man / "Dennis Webber". Kate Forbes also reprises her role from WandaVision as Agatha's mother Evanora Harkness.
The remaining six members of the Salem Seven are Marina Mazepa as "Snake", Bethany Curry as "Crow", Athena Perample as "Fox", Britta Grant as "Rat", Alicia Vela-Bailey as "Owl", and Chau Naumova as "Coyote". Additional guest stars include: Elizabeth Anweis as Alice's mother Lorna Wu; Laura Boccaletti as Lilia's Maestra; Scott Butler as a doctor linked to Jen's past; Jade Quon as the demon from the Wu's curse; and Abel Lysenko as Nicholas Scratch, Agatha's son. Hannah Lowther, Tetra Lloyd White, Henriette Zoutomou, Holly Bonney, and Kim Bass appear as witches trapped by Agatha and Nicholas during the 1750s.

Episodes

Production

Development

At Disney's biennial D23 Expo convention in August 2019, Kathryn Hahn was revealed to be cast in the role of Agnes, Wanda Maximoff and Vision's neighbor, in the Marvel Studios Disney+ television series WandaVision. That series' seventh episode reveals that "Agnes" is actually Agatha Harkness, a powerful witch from Marvel Comics. In May 2021, WandaVision head writer Jac Schaeffer signed a three-year overall television deal with Marvel Studios and 20th Television to develop additional projects for the studios' Disney+ slate. In pitches for several different projects centered on various characters, Schaeffer kept suggesting that Agatha be included as part of those series. This led to her and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige pursuing a series centered on that character instead. By October 2021, a "dark comedy" spin-off from WandaVision centered on Hahn as Agatha was in early development for Disney+ from Marvel Studios, with Schaeffer returning from WandaVision as head writer and executive producer. Hahn's involvement was part of a larger deal she signed with Marvel Studios to reprise her role in series and films.
During a Disney+ Day event in November 2021, the series was officially announced. Schaeffer was revealed to be directing episodes of the series a year later, and Gandja Monteiro was revealed as another director in December 2022, along with Rachel Goldberg in January 2023. Each directed three episodes of the series. By October 2023, Marvel Studios was changing its approach to television, hiring more traditional showrunners instead of head writers; Schaeffer was being credited as the series' showrunner by July 2024. Brad Winderbaum, the head of streaming, television, and animation at Marvel Studios, said Agatha All Along was the studio's least expensive series, costing less than the $40 million budget of Echo, and he attributed this to the series' use of practical effects rather than computer-generated imagery. Marvel Studios' Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Winderbaum, and Mary Livanos also served as executive producers. The series is being released under Marvel Studios' "Marvel Television" label. Actress Debra Jo Rupp, who returned from WandaVision, described the spin-off as being a second season of WandaVision in an anthology sense, similar to the different seasons of the television series American Horror Story. Agatha All Along is intended to be second in a trilogy of series that includes WandaVision and VisionQuest.

Title

The series was initially announced in November 2021 with the title Agatha: House of Harkness, but was renamed to Agatha: Coven of Chaos by July 2022. The series was revealed to have been retitled once again in September 2023, this time to Agatha: Darkhold Diaries. Actress Aubrey Plaza had previously posted a photo in May 2023 of a director's chair with that title, in a font based on the one used for the Disney film The Princess Diaries. Adam B. Vary at Variety reported that the multiple title changes were not caused by indecision from Marvel Studios and were instead indicating that the main character was "up to her old skulduggery", and he said it was possible that the series was simply titled Agatha; that is what the series was referred to as in a filing for the first episode with the United States Copyright Office as well as on the official Disney+ website.
In May 2024, Marvel Studios released a new logo on Twitter with the title Agatha: The Lying Witch with Great Wardrobe, but took down the post soon after. Germain Lussier at Gizmodo thought this may have been a joke or a mistake and noted that it was referencing the C. S. Lewis novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He felt it was "the worst title of the bunch" despite being accurate to the character, and questioned why the series had received so many publicly announced titles during development. He felt the best choice would be Agatha All Along, referring to the 'theme song' of the same name used when Agatha was revealed as the true villain in WandaVision. The next day, Disney announced at an upfront presentation that the official title was Agatha All Along, and released a video showing that the changing titles were "orchestrated by as a way of messing with Marvel fans". Schaeffer and the writers conceived the various titles. Livanos enjoyed releasing "crazier and crazier" titles throughout the marketing stunt and felt it was appropriate for Agatha.