How ‘Agatha All Along’ Showrunner Jac Schaeffer Brought Magic (and Music!) to the MCU

Jac Schaeffer never expected Agatha Harkness to get her own TV show. In the early days of developing WandaVision, Schaeffer originally wrote Kathryn Hahn’s witch as a more traditional villain, a scheming narrative foil designed to face off against Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch. But the more time that Schaeffer spent inside Agatha’s head — and the more conversations she had with Hahn — the more she fell for Agatha’s snarky blend of mischief and menace. Before long, she found herself daydreaming about where Agatha’s story could go next.

In other words, Agatha had officially cast a spell on her.

“Generally at Marvel, there’s always a quest to have villains be not just one-note, and Agatha is the ultimate example of that,” Schaeffer says. “She’s so complicated and has so many different dimensions and is never about world domination. There’s always something personal and nefarious and complex.”

Now, Agatha is back, this time headlining her own Disney+ series Agatha All Along (streaming now). Schaeffer serves as showrunner and executive producer, and she also directed the series’ first two episodes, following Agatha and the mysterious goth Teen (Joe Locke) as they journey down the notorious Witches’ Road.

Here, Schaeffer opens up about returning to Westview — and how Hahn’s “ferocity” brought Agatha to life.

MARVEL.COM: Take us back to the beginning: At what point during the making of WandaVision did you realize you had more story to tell with Agatha Harkness?

JAC SCHAEFFER: I mean, I didn’t allow myself to have such big dreams that she would get her own show. But in early conversations with Kathryn, it was very clear before we started shooting that the character would have more depth than we ever anticipated. Early in WandaVision, I really didn’t want a villain because I saw Wanda as the villain of her own story. Before Kathryn came on, I was kind of giving Agatha short shrift. She was brassy and funny, and then she was the bad guy.

But when Kathryn came in, all these layers unfolded. She kind of unfurled the complexity of how Agatha actually felt about Wanda. Underneath it all, Agatha is searching for community — as much as she would be loath to admit it. She’s looking for other powerful people and women like her. So, when I was given the opportunity to make this show, I thought, “That’s where we start. With that hunger that she denies.”

The song “Agatha All Along” was such a breakout hit from WandaVision, and songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez returned for this series. Tell me about working with them to craft “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road.”

I can’t believe how lucky I am that I get to work with them. They have this Midas touch where whatever they do, it’s a bop. But it’s not just the catchiness or how their songs get in your body. They are so invested in story, and they are so up for the journey of how music, story, and character fuse. As a writer, it’s transcendent.

I don’t actually speak the language of music. I don’t play music. I don’t write music. But they are able to hear my words and transform it into song. With this show more than WandaVision, there was a larger burden on the music carrying a lot of plot. In WandaVision, it was much more texture and fun. With this one, [the music is] infinitely complex. They were up for that, and they executed it beautifully.

This show explores the legacy of witchcraft, both throughout history and in pop culture. What were some of the inspirations or influences you were thinking about?

Part of the opportunity of this show was [to ask] who and what are witches in the MCU? That question is huge, and it’s a big responsibility. We started with a lot of research: Who are witches in pop culture? Who are witches in history? What is the mythology, and what is the reality?

We spoke with present-day witches. We did a lot of research. One of my assignments for my writers’ room was to give a presentation. One of my writers did a presentation on this beautiful book about how trees are alive and can communicate and feel pain. He did this beautiful presentation on it because it was so witch-adjacent, and that became part of the show.

It wasn’t just: “We’re doing witches.” That central question of “What is a witch?” became a part of the show. It was so fulfilling. My tenure at Marvel has been all about women in power, and that is entirely the conversation of WandaVision and Agatha All Along.

You’ve also assembled an incredible cast, made up of so many different women of all ages and backgrounds.

That was the agenda. There’s this “maiden, mother, crone” idea in witchcraft, and I often am like, “Where are the crones!” Bring in the crones! The crones are interesting ones. I’m a crone, so let’s do crones! [Laughs]

But I’m also a mother, and I was a maiden, and I’m all things all at once. That was the goal in the casting: We must bring in women who are so multi-dimensional and have so much power themselves and story to tell, both in their personal stories and on their faces. That’s what we wanted to fill the show with.

You mentioned how Kathryn Hahn’s performance really unlocked the character of Agatha Harkness for you. How did she bring Agatha to life?

It wasn’t really about seeing her do it. It was the early conversations, when we first started. I’m familiar enough with her impressive body of work to know how funny she is and how ballsy and brassy and all of that. But I loved the questions that she asked and the way she unpacked the core of this woman.

[Agatha All Along] was my first time directing her, and every director should be so lucky. I love the changes in her face and physicality, the way she can swing so gracefully between comedy and drama. But there’s a ferocity to her Agatha. There’s this desperate hunger that she’s able to embody that I find captivating. As we were editing and working in [post-production], that was what I wanted to draw out. We have all the comedy, and we know that works, but we wanted to pull out that savagery. I think that’s what elevates the show, and it’s all Kathryn Hahn.

Agatha All Along is now streaming on Disney+.