‘Agatha All Along’: Go Behind the Scenes of the Series’ Witchy Hair and Makeup

The Witches’ Road is a deadly place — but it’s also a stylish one.

Marvel Television’s Agatha All Along sends Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) and her coven on a dangerous journey down the Witches’ Road, following them as they brave a series of perilous trials. Each trial has its own unique look, taking inspiration from different decades and genres of pop culture. For hair department head Cindy Welles and makeup department head Vasilios Tanis, that meant they had to recreate everything from a 1970s rock show to an occult 1980s sleepover — with lots of witchy details sprinkled throughout.

“It is such a diverse range of looks in each and every episode,” Tanis tells Marvel.com. “It was a ton of work. Cindy pretty much needed a separate trailer just for her wigs!”

“There were wigs everywhere!” Welles adds with a laugh.

Both Welles and Tanis previously worked together on WandaVision, another Marvel show that played with tone and stretched through different decades. So when series creator Jac Schaeffer reached out about Agatha All Along, they both jumped at the chance to revisit Agatha Harkness and her witchy world.

To create Agatha’s signature style in this series, Tanis assembled a wide variety of inspirational images, ranging from ancient Greek pottery to photos of rock ‘n’ roll band Siouxsie and the Banshees. Early on, he suggested dipping Hahn’s fingertips in black paint, which became a defining part of her look.

“It was really fun that I got to paint her fingertips black, which was not mentioned [in the script],” he explains. “It was something that I came up with and everybody seemed to love. Considering that she always works with the Darkhold, it’s so evil that by touching it, your hands turn black as pitch. That was a really nice detail, and I’m very honored that it was adopted into her look.” 

Agatha’s hair also plays a key role in her journey, and Welles wanted to chart the character’s mental state through her hairstyles. Early on, Agatha piles her hair into a tall, Gibson Girl–inspired updo — a polished look for a witch who likes to be in control. But as she encounters more danger along the Witches’ Road, her hair starts to flow looser and wilder, cascading around her shoulders.

“She is kind of a woman on the edge,” Welles explains. “She’s constantly evolving and trying to assimilate with what’s around her, yet she’s kind of undone. It was a great collaboration with Kathryn using her own hair, with a few pieces or wigs here and there for some of the styles that were longer or shorter. But it was like, ‘Okay, this character is going one way mentally, so we have to take her there with her hair.’”

The pair also collaborated closely with the different departments: Costume designer Daniel Selon would begin by sketching out ideas for each character, with Tanis and Welles then brainstorming hair and makeup details. And because series creator Jac Schaeffer wanted to embrace practical effects as much as possible, that meant Tanis and Welles had to figure out how to pull off some of the show’s more supernatural looks — like when Agatha is possessed by a ghost or when the coven suddenly ages rapidly in the first trial. For the old-age makeup, Greg Nicotero designed the prosthetics, which were applied by special makeup effects artists Addison Foreman and Heather Beauvais. Then, Tanis and his key makeup artist Erin LeBre carefully did all the paint work, bringing each wizened face to life.

“Everything was done as you see it,” Tanis adds. “There was no trickery as far as CGI in any of the makeup. It really made us work hard.”

Fortunately, Welles and Tanis say, the actors gave them “free reign” when it came to hair and makeup. For the ‘70s-inspired second trial, they pored over photographs of musical legends like Patti Smith, Cher, Joan Jett, and Stevie Nicks, while the third trial was all big ‘80s hair and teen sleepover vibes. “The most fun was Patti [LuPone]’s Dorothy Hamill haircut,” Welles says with a laugh. “Patti is so game; she’ll do anything.”

But both Tanis and Welles agree that their favorite installment was episode 7, which reimagines Agatha’s coven as classic witches from pop culture.  

“To create a new spin on an old Hollywood classic like Glinda or the Wicked Witch of the West, it was just amazing,” Tanis says. “I loved [Sasheer Zamata’s Jennifer Kale] as the most vain and beautiful all of a sudden turning into the most hideous crone from Snow White.”

The result, Tanis and Welles say, was a job that felt like real magic. Welles remembers putting the finishing touches on Hahn each day, watching as the actress would instantly transform into Agatha Harkness.

“With Kathryn, you’d put a wig on her or you’d finish her hair and makeup, and you’d see her embody the character in front of your eyes,” Welles says with awe. “It was just this little click, and all of a sudden, we were like, ‘There she is.’”

Agatha All Along is now streaming on Disney+.