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Created by | Jac Schaeffer |
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Composer | Christophe Beck |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
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Network | Disney+ |
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Agatha All Along is an upcoming American television miniseries created by Jac Schaeffer for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics character Agatha Harkness. A spin-off from the series WandaVision (2021), it is planned as one of the television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) produced by Marvel Studios, via its Marvel Television label, alongside 20th Television, sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. Schaeffer serves as head writer and lead director.
Kathryn Hahn reprises her role as Agatha Harkness from WandaVision, with Aubrey Plaza, Joe Locke, Patti LuPone, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Debra Jo Rupp, and Miles Gutierrez-Riley also starring. Development began by October 2021, with Schaeffer and Hahn attached, and the series was formally announced the next month. Schaeffer, Gandja Monteiro, and Rachel Goldberg 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. Multiple actors and crewmembers returned from WandaVision, including the series' musical team. Several different titles were announced for the series as part of a marketing campaign before the official title of Agatha All Along—referencing the song of the same name from WandaVision—was announced in May 2024.
Agatha All Along is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ on September 18, 2024, with its first two episodes. The other seven episodes will be released weekly until November 6. It will be part of Phase Five of the MCU.
Agatha Harkness finds herself powerless after breaking out of her containment in Westview, New Jersey, following the events of the series WandaVision (2021). She looks to some unlikely allies to join her on her quest to regain her former powers.[1]
Reprising their roles from WandaVision (2021) as Westview residents are Emma Caulfield Ford as Sarah Proctor, who played "Dottie Jones" in the WandaVision sitcom,[13][11] David Payton as John Collins / "Herb", David Lengel as Sarah's husband Harold Proctor / "Phil Jones", Asif Ali as Abilash Tandon / "Norm",[14] and Amos Glick as a pizza delivery man cast as "Dennis".[14][15] Also reprising their WandaVision roles are Kate Forbes as Agatha's mother, Evanora Harkness,[14] and Brian Brightman as the Eastview, New Jersey sheriff.[14][16] Additionally, Maria Dizzia and Okwui Okpokwasili have been cast in undisclosed roles.[17][12]
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date [18] |
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1 | TBA | Jac Schaeffer[1] | Jac Schaeffer[19] | September 18, 2024 |
The series will consist of nine episodes.[20] Schaeffer and Gandja Monteiro directed multiple episodes of series, with Monteiro directing the finale.[12][21] Rachel Goldberg also directed.[12]
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 (2021).[22][23] That series' seventh episode reveals that "Agnes" is actually Agatha Harkness, a character from Marvel Comics.[24] 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.[25] In pitches for several different projects, Schaeffer suggested including Harkness. This led to her and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige pursuing a series centered on that character instead.[26] By October 2021, a "dark comedy" spin-off from WandaVision centered on Hahn as Harkness was in early development for Disney+ from Marvel Studios, with Schaeffer returning from WandaVision as writer and executive producer.[3] Hahn's involvement was part of a larger deal she signed with Marvel Studios to reprise her role in series and films.[27]
During a Disney+ Day event in November 2021, the series was officially announced.[2] Schaeffer was revealed to be directing episodes of the series a year later,[28] and Gandja Monteiro was revealed as another director in December 2022.[29] They were both confirmed to be directing multiple episodes along with Rachel Goldberg in January 2023,[12][21] with Schaeffer directing the first episode and Monteiro directing the last.[1][21] Marvel Studios' Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Brad Winderbaum also serve as executive producers.[30][31] 20th Television also produces the series,[32][additional citation(s) needed] which is being released under Marvel Studios' "Marvel Television" label.[33] 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 series American Horror Story.[34]
The series was first announced with the title Agatha: House of Harkness,[2] but was renamed to Agatha: Coven of Chaos by July 2022.[35] The series was revealed to have been retitled once again in September 2023, this time to Agatha: Darkhold Diaries.[36] 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 (2001).[37] 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",[38] and he said it was possible that the series was simply titled Agatha;[39] 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.[40][41][42]
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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 (1950). 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,[43] referring to the song of the same name that Harkness sings in WandaVision.[44] The next day, Disney announced at an upfront presentation that the official title was Agatha All Along,[18][45] and released a video showing that the changing titles were "orchestrated by [Harkness] as a way of messing with Marvel fans".[46]
Peter Cameron, Cameron Squires,[47] Laura Donney, and Megan McDonnell worked on the series,[48] all returning from WandaVision,[47][48] alongside Laura Monti, Giovanna Sarquis, and Jason Rostovsky.[49] McDonnell was a consulting producer, serving as the on-set writer.[50] Co-executive producer Mary Livanos said the chance to continue Agatha Harkness' story and to get to know the character further was an imperative for the creatives.[4] Winderbaum compared Agatha All Along to Marvel Studios' Loki (2021–2023), which both feature antiheroes, for being different from their other series while exploring similar emotional depths of their title characters.[51]
Hahn was expected to reprise her role in the series with the reveal of its development in October 2021,[3] which was confirmed with the series' official announcement a month later.[2] Emma Caulfield Ford revealed in October 2022 that she would reprise her role as Sarah Proctor / "Dottie Jones" from WandaVision.[13] In November, Joe Locke,[52] Aubrey Plaza,[53] Ali Ahn, Maria Dizzia,[17] and Sasheer Zamata joined the cast.[9] Locke plays Billy Kaplan,[7][additional citation(s) needed] the male lead of the series, which Deadline Hollywood described as a "gay teen with a dark sense of humor",[8] while Plaza plays Rio Vidal, a newly created character for the series and a villain role.[53][1] Ahn plays the witch Alice,[9][1] with Dizzia also reported to be portraying a witch,[9] and Zamata set for the recurring role of the sorceress Jennifer Kale.[9][7] The following month, Patti LuPone joined the cast,[54] as the witch Lilia Calderu.[5] Miriam Margolyes turned down a role in the series after Marvel offered to pay her half of what she had asked for and because she did not want to film in Georgia.[42]
In January 2023, Debra Jo Rupp, David Payton, David Lengel, Asif Ali, Amos Glick, Brian Brightman, and Kate Forbes were revealed to be appearing in the series, reprising their respective roles from WandaVision as Sharon Davis / "Mrs. Hart",[10][11] John Collins / "Herb", Harold Proctor / "Phil Jones", Abilash Tandon / "Norm",[12][14] a pizza delivery man cast as "Dennis",[12][14][15] the Eastview, New Jersey sheriff,[12][14][16] and Agatha's mother Evanora Harkness.[12][14] Miles Gutierrez-Riley was cast as Billy's boyfriend,[12][7][additional citation(s) needed] with Okwui Okpokwasili also cast in the series.[12]
Daniel Selon serves as the costume designer, after previously working on WandaVision (2021), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) as an assistant costume designer,[55] while John Collins serves as the production designer.[56]
Principal photography began on January 17, 2023,[57][12] at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia,[58] with Schaeffer, Monteiro, and Goldberg directing episodes of the series.[12] Caleb Heymann,[59][third-party source needed] Jon Chema,[60] and Isiah Donté Lee served as cinematographers.[61] The series was filmed under the working title My Pretty.[58] Filming with Rupp also occurred in Los Angeles by February 2023, before moving to Atlanta for two months.[34] The start of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike in May 2023 was not expected to impact production of Agatha All Along, with Marvel Studios reportedly planning to shoot what they could during principal photography and make any necessary writing adjustments during the series' already scheduled reshoots.[62] Plaza filmed some of her scenes concurrent with the last two weeks of her commitments to the film Megalopolis (2024), also in Atlanta.[6] Hahn stated that filming utilized as many practical elements as possible, including practical magic opposed to having it done through CGI.[63] Filming wrapped by May 28.[64] Hahn said in January 2024 there were a few days left of reshoots to take place,[65] which were completed in one day in early February.[66]
In January 2023, Hahn hinted at the inclusion of songs in the series, much like the original songs featured in WandaVision such as "Agatha All Along".[44] In March, Christophe Beck revealed he would be composing the score for the series, after previously doing so for WandaVision and other MCU media.[67] The following month, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez were revealed to have written the songs for the series, returning from WandaVision. Hahn serves as the lead singer for some songs, with the other witch actors such as LuPone acting as background singers.[68]
A first-look at the series was included in the bonus features of WandaVision's physical home media, which was released in late November 2023.[4] Hahn, Locke, and LuPone promoted the series at Disney's May 2024 upfront presentation, where the release date and official title were announced and the first trailer was shown.[69][70] The title announcement was accompanied by a video, which was released online, that shows the progression of announced titles for the series leading up to the official title, Agatha All Along. The video is set to the song of the same name from WandaVision.[46]
Agatha All Along is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ in the lead-up to Halloween,[41][36] starting with its first two episodes on September 18, 2024.[18] The other seven episodes will be released weekly until November 6.[18][20] A filing for the first episode with the United States Copyright Office indicated an approximate release on September 19, 2024.[40] The series was previously expected to debut as early as late 2023,[35] however, by February 2023, amid Disney and Marvel Studios re-evaluating their content output, Secret Invasion and the second season of Loki were believed to be the only "sure bets" to debut in 2023.[71] It will be part of Phase Five of the MCU.[35]