“Agatha All Along” Creator Jac Schaeffer on Setting off Marvel’s Witching Hour
Agatha All Along creator Jac Schaeffer explores the witchy side of the Marvel Universe just in time for Halloween. The timing of the show’s release is a happy accident for Schaeffer, who also directed the first two episodes. In bringing the titular witch, Agatha (Kathryn Hahn), back from WandaVision, Schaeffer and her team have made a series with a playful spookiness centered on an irresistible Hahn, the dynamo who has been stealing scenes her whole career and found herself in the unexpected starring role on a Marvel Studios series.
Following the events of WandaVision, Agatha isn’t the powerful witch she once was, having been bested and stripped of her powers by Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) in the climactic showdown that ended that series. When reintroduced, she’s trapped in her mind and living out a European police procedural. Once she snaps out of the procedural drama and returns to reality, she’s horrified to find herself powerless. With a trusty sidekick, Teen (Joe Locke), she assembles a team of witches for a journey on the arduous, dangerous Witches’ Road to regain her powers.
Schaeffer, who also created WandaVision, introduces new elements in the Marvel universe, spoke with The Credits about her influences for Agatha All Along, building witchcraft mythology, and her sensational cast.
In the opening credits, there’s the joke, “Based on the Danish series, Wandavisdysen.” Was that a gag on the page?
The main titles were written into the script; that was always the thing. In fact, the original concept on the page had the skip intro button that you could press, but the idea was that it wouldn’t work because you always get bewitched by main titles if they’re really good. But the idea of it being based on the Danish series was because the editor on that episode, Jamie Gross, used The Killing main titles for a temp before we had made ours. And then when it was time to do ours, I was like, “Well, we have to do it based on the Danish series because that’s what they do in The Killing.” I’ve to say it is one of my top five favorite jokes in the whole show. It really tickles me.
WandaVision was a departure from the Marvel aesthetic. Given the world of witchcraft in Agatha All Along, how’d you want to continue to evolve from that style?
From what I’ve witnessed during my time at Marvel, they’re interested in that. They want it all to fit together, but they want each property to have its own distinct style, color, and feeling. There was definitely room for that. The road itself was hard because you don’t want to go too dark. It also went hand in hand with the notion of how scary it is in terms of ages and audience. We were finding a line.
Were you inspired by Walt Disney and witches from the Disney library? They weren’t afraid to scare kids, and I’d say the same about your witches.
We did, in a larger sense, of how witches are framed in the older Disney canon, the binary of the princess and the evil witch. So, that definitely factored into our early ideating because the whole show is an examination of what it means to be a witch in terms of the stereotype and then what it means authentically. But that’s lovely that you felt that. I would also guess that that also has to do with the practical side of it. There’s a real texture to the show. At least for me, seeing the witches in the real environment has that Grimm’s fairy tale essence to it.
Did you and your visual effects supervisor, Kelly Port, always want to use as many practical effects as possible?
Early on, we were like, “This is not a CGI show,” and Kelly wanted that as well. It was Mary Livanos’, the executive producer, idea. Our touchstones were everything from The Wizard of Oz through The NeverEnding Story, Dark Crystal, The Craft, and The Witches of Eastwick. We were already in this zone, which then became a point of pride for us. It also has an added layer, this discovery where we were like, “Agatha’s power has been taken from her. No power for Agatha, no CG for the show.” It felt aligned with the Marvel ethos.
In the pilot, did you want the house fight scene between Agatha and Rio (Aubrey Plaza) to really set the tone for the action ahead in the series?
Yes. It’s a Marvel show, so there is always a burden for action and some level of violence that is part of the Marvel universe. It’s not something that I always wrote before coming to Marvel. That wasn’t where my mind always went. Although I guess sci-fi is always where I’m at, and there’s always going to be some sort of action in a sci-fi story. But what we were trying to convey with that sequence is the fact that Agatha is powerless. She’s got no blasts and no telekinesis, and if she has no telepathy, then it’s fisticuffs, right? It’s going to be nails and teeth and hair. Also, the relationship between Agatha and Rio is so intimate and so charged that we wanted this close-quarters fight that indicated that they’re at each other’s throats, but also maybe want to make out. We wanted that froth at the top of the show.
As someone with an independent background, how do you want to bring an indie spirit to a production as big as Agatha All Along?
When I hear indie, what that means to me is that we have a “we can solve this” attitude. Give me a pack of gum and a match, and I’ll figure this out. It’s a concert! Just kidding, it’s a public restroom. Even at the Marvel scale, there will be a million things you’re told you can’t have, and then you have to make it work. I think the other indie spirit sensibility is the centering of POVs that don’t normally get the spotlight. It’s certainly the case for this show. All I want to do is tell the stories of women, women from all places and of all ages and all circumstances. And so, that’s part of what I brought to this.
You have great “getting the band together” sequences, like in a classic heist movie. How did you want to define those women as quickly and as substantially as possible?
You’ve nailed it. It is so challenging, but that is the goal. I love heist movies. I love Oceans 11 so much. The economy with which 11 characters are introduced, holy moly, masterclass. Agatha and Teen pick up three characters and a fourth. It’s technically a half-hour show, maybe a little bit longer, but there’s limited real estate. So it is not only the words on the page, it is the casting, which is vital. Ninety percent of your job is done if you cast the right people. Then, it’s the wardrobe, and [costume designer] Daniel Selon’s work did so much to enhance and to create a shorthand for who these characters are. And then, of course, John Collins’ production design. Each space tells a story and establishes the beginning of a thread that will follow throughout the show.
Did you and the writers now have a book of rules for all the witchcraft in the show?
The notes from the room would melt your brain. Because this character has very little presence in the comics, we were originating from scratch a lot of who she is, and then we were assigned the task of defining witchcraft in the MCU. What classic notion of witches do we want to carry forward? How do we want to innovate? What are the ways in which Marvel witches are different? Then, we put them in an environment that required an enormous amount of world-building and rules. Then, because they are on a mission, how do we paint them into a corner over and over again and then get them out of it? Yeah, I’m tired just remembering all of that [Laughs].
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Featured image: (L-R): Creator/Showrunner/Director/Executive Producer Jac Schaeffer and Kathryn Hahn on the set of Marvel Television’s AGATHA ALL ALONG, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2024 MARVEL.
