After Agatha All Along Episode 4 Confirmed A Queer Relationship, Its Showrunner Explained Why The Show's LGBTQ+ Representation Was 'Undeniable'
This was a huge development!
Warning: SPOILERS for the Agatha All Along episode “If I Can't Reach You / Let My Song Teach You” are ahead!
Last week’s episode of Agatha All Along was pretty eventful, from Debra Jo Rupp’s Sharon Davis dying at the end to that Mephisto name drop. Well, this week’s episode, titled “If I Can't Reach You / Let My Song Teach You,” had its own significant developments, including Aubrey Plaza’s mysterious Rio Vidal being summoned to take over as the coven’s green witch. As we’ve known since Agatha All Along premiered to those with a Disney+ subscription, Rio and Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha have history together, but this latest episode took things a step further and had these characters almost kiss each other. There’s no question this is one of the biggest queer moments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date, and showrunner Jan Schaeffer opened up about how Agatha All Along’s LGBTQ+ representation was “undeniable.”
Schaeffer, who was also WandaVision’s showrunner, talked with EW about how Agatha All Along is infused with things that many in the LGBTQ+ demographic like, including camp, musicals, horror and actress Patti LuPone, who stars in this show as Lilia Calderu. This is why Joe Locke’s Teen is a gay goth horror fan, and Schaeffer explained why it was important to infuse the latest Marvel series with such elements with these words:
The MCU’s version of Agatha Harkness was initially introduced in WandaVision as Agnes, the nosy neighbor who lived next door to Wanda Maximoff and Vision during their sitcom-hopping days in Westview. However, her true identity was eventually revealed, and while we got a look into her past through a 1693-set flashback showing a coven of witches, including Agatha’s mother, trying to execute her for using dark magic, Agatha All Along is preparing to do a much deeper dive into her background. Now there’s also a romantic beat to keep track of with her too, as there’s clearly chemistry between Agatha and Rio Vidal in the midst of their adversarial dynamic.
Jac Schaeffer also recalled how when WandaVision was originally airing, she saw footage of a Minneapolis drag brunch where one of the performers was dressed like Agatha Harkness, and she was “moved and overwhelmed and flattered.” Cut to Agatha All Along, Schaeffer wanted the title character to also be a drag queen of sorts, saying:
As mentioned earlier, Agatha and Rio fell short of actually locking lips, as the latter reminded the former that Teen is not her long-lost son, whom Teen inquired about to Agatha just minutes beforehand, but she refused to talk about it. With five episodes left to go in Agatha All Along, there’s still time for viewers to see them kiss, but whether that happens or not, Kathryn Hahn is happy with how the show’s LGBTQ+ representation has turned out. In her words:
New episodes of Agatha All Along are released Wednesdays at 9 pm ET on Disney+. You can look further ahead into the future by browsing through the upcoming Marvel TV shows and upcoming Marvel movies.
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Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.