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    Agatha All Along Creator Explains How ‘Marvel Burden’ & Fans Changed Finale

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    Agatha All Along Creator Explains How ‘Marvel Burden’ & Fans Changed Finale

    Now that Agatha All Along has concluded its nine-episode run, the series’ creators are finally revealing behind-the-scenes details. The final two episodes that aired the night before Halloween delivered plenty for fans, from an epic showdown with Death, to Wiccan finally suiting up in his comic-accurate costume. Yet the series finale also delved more into Agatha Harkness as a character, including the tragic origin behind what happened to her son, Nicolas Scratch. After weeks of speculation, fan theories, and anticipation, Agatha All Along managed to deliver something unique within the MCU, but that didn’t mean there weren’t a lot of concerns behind the scenes about how fans would react to it.




    While speaking with Variety, Agatha All Along creator Jac Schaeffer broke down the penultimate episode about Agatha’s decision to sacrifice herself to save Billy Maximoff/Wiccan. Schaeffer reveals the level of expectations that fans of the MCU have for their stories, and knowledge of the comics about how they are supposed to go. This certainly puts a lot of pressure on the creative team and how that level of expectation, particularly around the idea of a redemption arc, played into the final two episodes. Schaeffer said:

    “I will say, the reality is, the finale pieces of these projects are very, very hard, because there’s a lot of Marvel burden to deal with. There’s a lot of fan expectation, there’s a lot of familiarity. I deal in tropes of other pop culture stuff, but then, you got to get into the tropes of the MCU. So we’re hurtling toward a moment of a crucible, and what everyone’s expecting is a redemption arc for Agatha and she sacrifices herself. From the beginning, you feel like that’s where it’s going, and I was interested in doing that in a recognizably Marvel way, but have it be different, in that it’s a kiss, not a blast.”


    Schaeffer’s comments about fan expectations hold a lot of weight, as she has experience with MCU fan expectations. WandaVision faced its fair share of backlash from some fans for seemingly teasing Reed Richards or Mephisto, despite the series never promising those things. Fans expected it, and then criticized WandaVision for not delivering on those wishes while never being hinted at. Even before Agatha All Along debuted, there were some fans who were asking, “Who is this for?” or “Why are they giving Agatha a show?” because it was not expected to be part of the bigger MCU Multiverse Saga plan. Some fans have started to only treat the MCU as an advertisement for what comes next, instead of enjoying the project on its own.


    Agatha All Along Broke the Mold


    There are plenty of stories where villainous characters “sacrifice” themselves, and this is framed as being heroic while sweeping their past horrible deeds under the rug. The best example is Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi, whose redemption now seems harder to swallow, not that audiences know he personally slaughtered children. Meanwhile, former MCU villains like Loki and seemingly the entire cast of Thunderbolts* have found redemption, sometimes sanding off the edges that made fans fall in love with them. While Agatha Harkness did “sacrifice” herself, she still did it on her terms. She might not be the villain she was in WandaVision, but she is still far from trustworthy. Agatha remains the character fans fell in love with before, just now with new levels of depth.

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    Agatha All Along‘s final two episodes feel like a reaction to the finale of WandaVision. WandaVision is undoubtedly one of the most praised entries in the MCU, but a common criticism was the final episode was a typical Marvel fight with characters shooting energy beams at one another, which contrasted with the rest of the series’ unique sitcom format. Agatha All Along still features a big CGI showdown between Agatha and Wiccan taking on Death, but the conflict is not resolved by overpowering their opponent but by outsmarting them. In addition, this battle is saved for the eighth episode, while the finale is a more personal, intimate character study. This isn’t how people who love or hate the MCU expect these stories to end, but Agatha All Along did it. It seems like the show did break the mold of conventional MCU stories for the better.


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