Credit: Inside the MagicMarvel Studios’ first-ever Disney+ (Disney Plus) original series, 2021’s WandaVision, has been primed by Kevin Feige to expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and its Multiverse Saga with two exciting spinoffs.
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These include Vision Quest, starring Paul Bettany as the White Vision iteration of the character post-WandaVision starting a robot family of his own, and Agatha All Along, a Halloween-appropriate new series centered on Kathryn Hahn’s character, Agatha Harkness, that debuted September 18.
Originally titled Agatha: House of Harkness, the spooky new show underwent several title changes, including Agatha: Coven of Chaos and Agatha: Darkhold Diaries. At one point, it was even called Agatha: The Lying Witch with Great Wardrobe — all part of a clever marketing gimmick from Marvel Studios.
The title has now been streamlined to the simple but effective Agatha All Along — a nod to the fan-favorite jingle from WandaVision.
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Kathryn Hahn’s coven of misfits faces a magical gauntlet of “tricks and trials” while traveling down the legendary Witches Road, with new episodes releasing every Wednesday.
Directed by WandaVision’s Jac Schaeffer, Agatha All Along embraces a campy, fun approach for the Halloween season. It takes inspiration from the success of songs from the original WandaVision show, like “Agatha All Along,” to explore a fresh “horror-meets-musical theater” side of the MCU.
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Variety broke the good news earlier this week: that the Disney+ series is proving to be “the little show that could.”
According to the report, the Marvel Cinematic Universe show under the new Marvel Television umbrella has garnered an impressive 9.3 million views in one week on the Disney-owned streamer.
This news comes after the series faced an onslaught of naysayers — “anti-woke” sentiments from the groups that decry the “M-She-U” (a derogatory term used to criticize the MCU for featuring female superheroes and spotlighting stories with women), with many users online insisting that the series would bomb for lack of viewership.
Agatha All Along‘s cast has also been very vocal about the relative “gayness” of the show, which ostensibly did not help matters with that particular side of the internet.
So far, only a few franchise shows have bested Agatha’s numbers as of late — Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ 13.3 million views in six days late last year, June’s Star Wars series The Acolyte, which accomplished a reported 11.1 million views in five days, and Star Wars’ Ahsoka, with 14 million in five days.
Overall, the response to the Agatha series has been almost surprisingly positive, especially considering that Marvel President Kevin Feige and Disney CEO Bob Iger are both keen to trim the fat from the MCU. Agatha All Along will likely be Marvel’s last “experimental” spinoff series starring relatively more obscure Marvel characters.
Regardless, the spunky new series skips merrily down, down, down the Witches’ Road.
Have you been watching Agatha All Along? What do you think of the new Marvel series? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
More on Agatha All Along
Celebrated lyricists and composers Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson Lopez, known for their work on all of WandaVision‘s jingles, as well as Broadway’s The Book of Mormon and Disney’s Frozen and Coco, have crafted Agatha’s catchy tunes.
Broadway legend Patti LuPone (a queer icon in her own right) portrays the divination witch Lilia Calderu within Agatha Harkness’ coven. LuPone expressed great enthusiasm for her role early on — to the point of getting in trouble with Disney for “pulling a Tom Holland.”
The series also features sorceress Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), Alice Wu Gulliver (Ali Ahn), Debra Jo Rupp as Mrs Hart/Sharon Davis, and most importantly, the Green Witch Rio Vidal (played by Aubrey Plaza). Multiple insiders shared earlier in the series’ production timeline that Plaza’s Rio Vidal would be Agatha Harkness’s jilted ex-lover.
Heartstopper‘s Joe Locke plays the mysteriously named “Teen” — rumored to be Wanda Maximoff/the Scarlet Witch’s son Wiccan/Billy Maximoff (or Billy Kaplan in the Marvel comics).