In just over a week, Marvel’s upcoming WandaVision spin-off Agatha All Along, starring Kathryn Hahn, will soon bewitch Disney+ subscribers. While the show’s three-year development—which saw numerous title changes—would otherwise signal a show’s troubled development, the show’s executive producer has revealed that it was actually part of an elaborate prank on Marvel fans.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Agatha All Along executive producer Mary Livanos revealed that the show’s rotating door of name changes wasn’t a result of focus testing that had gone awry. In reality, it was the writers’ room flexing their proverbial funny bones to see how many believably fake TV show titles they could develop.
“Hats off to Jac Shaeffer on that one, and our incredible writers’ room, with the best day of brainstorming I think we’ve ever had, figuring out all those titles,” Livanos told THR. “It was a real blast to release crazier and crazier ones as the production went on, and our cast was so game, too. The nature of the stunt felt very Agatha.”
Key among Agatha All Along‘s shortlist of fake title card names (and the time frame in which they were changed) are as follows:
- Agatha: House of Harkness: The show’s original announcement title back in 2021
- Agatha: Coven of Chaos: The show’s changed title in July 2022
- Agatha: Darkhold Diaries: The show’s updated title in September 2023
- Agatha: The Lying Witch with The Great Wardrobe: Arguably the funniest title was uploaded and swiftly deleted by Marvel back in May.
As with most jokes, the overall effectiveness of Agatha All Along bibbidi-bobbidi-boo’ed title changes as a gag on one of pop culture’s most attention-detailed audiences is subjective. However, if anyone is going to spearhead an Agatha-inspired ruse, it would be the folks who helped make WandaVision an Emmy-nominated show. A show, mind you, that already went pretty wild on the whole meta-reality-breaking shenanigans.
What’s not a joke is how stacked Agatha All Along‘s cast is. Aside from the returning Hahn, Agatha All Along will star Aubrey Plaza, Joe Locke, Ali Ahn, Maria Dizzia, Paul Adelstein, Miles Guitierrez-RIley, Okwui Okpokwasili, Debra Jo Rupp, and Patti LuPone. What’s more, showrunner Schaeffer promises that the show will lean even heavier into style and self-awareness through its wardrobe and production design. Whether that means the show will see the use of practical effects or settle for simply paying homage to the 1998 film Practical Magic has yet to be seen.
Agatha All Along premiers on September 18 on Disney+.
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