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There are two episodes of Disney+’s spectacular new series Agatha All Along left. Both episodes will drop on Wednesday, October 30 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. I cannot wait. I’m so into this show and so excited to see where it’s going. It follows charming anti-hero Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) and her newfound coven’s journey down the Witches’ Road. Each witch has journeyed down the road in hope of finding their own fulfillment. In Agatha’s case, it’s getting back her powers, which she lost at the end of WandaVision. To get to the end of the road, each witch must face a personalized trial in order for their coven to make it further down the road to the next trial.
So far, Agatha’s hodgepodge coven has lost three members to the deadly Witches’ Road: Mrs. Hart, Alice, and, most recently, Lilia (played by Patti LuPone). Each character really resonated with the audience, too. Since Agatha is a series set in a comic book universe that deals with multi-verses, time jumps, and illusions, there are theories that perhaps we haven’t really seen the last of each witch. While talking with Variety, Agatha showrunner Jac Schaeffer seemingly confirmed that they’re following the Lost rules, in that, despite their magical environment, dead is dead.
From the outset of Agatha All Along, Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) and her coven knew that walking The Witches’ Road was a dangerous undertaking and that has certainly proven to be true. Over the series’ first seven episodes, three members of the coven have met their end — Mrs. Hart (Debra Jo Rupp) in Episode 3, Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn) in Episode 5, and perhaps most heartbreakingly, Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone) in this week’s Episode 7. Given that the road is associated with magic and it would seem that with magic anything is possible, fans have been holding onto hope that perhaps the deaths on the Road weren’t permanent. However, according to Agatha All Along showrunner Jac Schaeffer, that is not the case. Speaking with Variety, Schaeffer confirmed that the deaths are not only real, but they’re permanent and they have meaning.
“What I want to say is that this is a show about death,’ Schaeffer said when asked if Lilia, Alice, and Mrs. Hart were really dead. “We actually have the character of Death in our show. I am interested in that conversation, and I am fascinated by how death is used in the comic space and in the MCU. Personally, I feel that when a person dies, you can still talk to them and feel them, and they can still be in your lives. But death is immutable. It is permanent. With this show, we wanted to pay respect to that. So, this is a more earnest and grave conversation about death than maybe you would find in another superhero project.”
Schaeffer’s comments also apply to The Salem Seven. This week’s episode saw Lilia in a moment of both acceptance and heroism save the coven by staying behind after the completion of the tarot trial to face the terrifying antagonists, meeting her own end as she sent them to theirs.
“Yeah, the Salem Seven are dead,” Schaeffer said. “They’re off the board in our show, is what I will say. Lilia has saved everybody!”
It goes without question that the idea that the deaths in Agatha All Along are real and permanent brings an additional layer of gravity to not only the story being told in the series, but also to the overall MCU — which perhaps unintentionally has in many ways served as an exploration of grief in Phase 4 — but it also may have some implications for another fan theory: that Scarlet Witch either somehow survived the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness or that Agatha All Along will “undo” her death. Fans have been hopeful for some time that Wanda Maximoff’s story isn’t over and have even hoped that Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda could appear in Agatha All Along and while Episode 7 did leave the character’s fate a bit ambiguous, if she is indeed dead, Schaeffer’s comments suggest that she would remain that way.
That said, there is still the perception of reality to take into consideration. While Schaeffer says that death is immutable, Episode 7 also sees Lilia make the comment that “the flow of time is an illusion… most people don’t realize that.” If time is not linear, as Lilia is suggesting, then it is possible that we could still see various characters again, including Wanda. More than that, however, is the overall idea as Schaeffer noted that even those who are gone are not really “gone” — which feels very witchy and magical all on its own.
Each loss has been devastating, but losing Alice and Lilia just as they found their “purpose” has felt heartbreaking and unfair. To keep with my earlier comparison, it kind of reminds me of how we’d lose characters in Lost just as they finally realized their potential. I really hope that Schaeffer is just setting us up for some epic season finale, but I begrudgingly believe her. Booo, I need more Lilia, Alice, and Mrs. Hart on my screen! This makes me so nervous about Jen’s fate during the last two episodes.
That said, I feel like literally anything can happen at this point. I’m so intrigued by Aubrey Plaza’s Rio/Death character and given her history with Agatha (”If you wanted a straight answer, you should have asked a straight lady”), I wonder what game the two of them are playing. Surely, Agatha can’t cheat Death that many times…right? Also, Joe Locke is absolutely crushing it as Teen/Billy. Who do we think will end up being Tommy? That has to be how this all ends, right?
As for the Scarlet Witch theory, my gut tells me that the character is only dead for as long as Elizabeth Olson is done playing her. If Lizzie O wants to come back, they will make it work. They really did do that character dirty in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, though. That movie was such a mess.