Witches assemble!
It’s officially spooky season, and Disney+ has a treat for everyone who wished for more Agatha Harkness. WandaVision showrunner Jac Schaeffer has returned with more magic and witchiness for the MCU in the highly-anticipated Agatha All Along.
When we last saw Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) in the WandaVision finale, she was left powerless and trapped in the formerly hexed Westview, New Jersey, by Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). In the pilot episode of Agatha All Along, she’s still in town, living life as Agnes, starring in her own Mare of Easttown-esque crime drama. We see familiar faces playing different roles including Herb (David Payton), Norm (Asif Ali), Dottie (Emma Caulfield Ford), Phil (David Lengel), and Dennis (Amos Glick).
As seen in the trailers, Agatha strips off her current crime drama identity along with the layers of her past sitcom getups, finally breaking out of Wanda’s distorted spell. She owes her freedom to Joe Locke’s character, a teenage goth who needs the “covenless witch” to walk the legendary Witches’ Road. With an unknown spell preventing him from revealing his name, he’s henceforth referred to as Teen. The newly awakened Agatha Harkness is hesitant to make the treacherous journey but since she desperately needs her powers back, she agrees and assembles a new coven.
Episode 2 sees a frustrated Agatha and an excitable Teen visiting witches who specialize in different areas of the craft. With her reputation as a thief of powers, getting anyone to join takes some convincing. Luckily for her, each of them is missing something, lacking agency, and would benefit from the promise of a prize at the end of the Road.
Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), a Sicilian witch specializing in divination, isn’t exactly thriving on her own as a fortune teller. Alchemy and potions witch Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata) works in the beauty industry, having lost her magic years ago. Protection witch Ali Ahn (Alice Wu-Gulliver) is an ex-cop and mall security guard unable to escape her traumatic past.
They need a green witch to complete the required ensemble to summon the Witches’ Road, so Agatha turns to Westview resident Mrs. Hart (Debra Jo Rupp), whose real name is Sharon Davis. The poor woman is lonely and jumps at the chance to attend Agatha’s “party,” unaware she’s being recruited for her gardening skills.
Agatha isn’t known for being a team player and is not subtle in her disdain for working with others. But there’s a noticeable love-hate among Lilia, Jennifer, and Ali, showing that even though they’ve all been lone wolves for reasons, they still respect each other’s abilities along with their plights. Even Sharon starts to bond with them a bit.
Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza) eventually joins them on the Road, much to Agatha’s annoyance. Anyone familiar with Plaza and her love of witches knows she was born to play Rio Vidal, an unpredictable green witch who shares a complicated history with Agatha. She brings her natural big witch energy to the role, especially in scenes with the equally captivating Katherine Hahn that are brimming with tension.
Despite the title, Agatha All Along is about more than just one witch’s journey to reclaim her powers. Each episode centers on a new trial set in a different era that shows how the individual characters must face their metaphorical and literal demons. The first trial takes place in a beach house with a coastal interior design in neutral tones. It’s very Big Little Lies with lots of wine available, though Schaeffer cited 1998’s East Coast-set Practical Magic as inspiration. The second trial takes them into a psychedelic 1970s recording studio, giving Stevie Nicks in her white witch era with fabulous duds.
In addition to Schaeffer, other WandaVision creatives returned to work their behind-the-scenes magic. From the Wanda-free Westview to the different periods they enter, John Collins’ otherworldly set design transports the audience along with the cast. And with each era comes an iconic wardrobe change into another one of Daniel Selon’s stunning costumes. Truly, this coven serves several gorgeous looks.
And of course, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the genius minds behind the chart-topping “Agatha All Along,” came back to deliver another bop. “The Ballad of the Witches Road” plays an integral role in the series and like the ever-changing opening credits of WandaVision, we get to hear it in different versions.
The music, production design, and costumes highlight the various depictions of witchcraft throughout history and pop culture. In an interview with BGN, executive producer Mary Livanos described the tone of the show as, “Witches can be anyone, they can be anything.” The end credits are a collage of modern and historical portrayals and iconography of witchcraft, showcasing everything from the Salem Witch Trials to The Craft to Lisa Simpson.
From the remarkable production design to the outstanding ensemble cast led by Katherine Hahn, Agatha All Along exceeds expectations in every witchy way. The series dives into the fun, fantastical, and horrifying history of witchcraft, dissecting the many misconceptions and celebrating the weird and wicked witches of the MCU and beyond.
Agatha All Along premieres two episodes on September 18, 2024, on Disney+, followed by weekly episodes through October 30.
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