Agatha All Along Star Kathryn Hahn on Headlining Marvel's Newest Series and the Vibe She Created on Set

Kathryn Hahn's first confession comes 42 seconds into her emmy interview: "Let's call a spade a spade. I definitely did not run a brush through my hair for this." The next one arrives at the 17-minute mark. It's far more revealing.

Just before starting any new job, the actress cops to letting the little voice inside her head get the best of her. "It's always like I forgot how to act, and somebody is going to tell me, 'Thank you Kathryn, but we don't think this is happening,'" she says. "That happens no matter what." The scene was different when she reported to the set of Agatha All Along. Stepping into her trailer, she spotted balloons as well as a note affixed to her mirror that read, "Welcome to your first day on your very own Marvel show." Hahn snapped a photo of the display — courtesy of a production assistant— as if it were forensic evidence. "I don't think it had really even hit me yet," she recalls. "I felt incredibly ready to dig in." Not to mention summon all her powers.

Fresh off her Emmy-nominated supporting role as the cackling witch-disguised-as-a-friendly-neighbor in 2021's WandaVision, Hahn now gets to work her magic as Agatha Harkness in a spinoff extravaganza premiering September 18 on Disney+. Picking up after a furious Scarlet Witch/ Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) stripped Agatha of her sorcery, the limited series finds the eponymous character still ensconced in the suburbs of Westview, New Jersey, now forced to embark on a journey to reclaim her mojo. Along the way, she encounters other witches, including the likes of Aubrey Plaza (The White Lotus), Patti LuPone (American Horror Story) and Sasheer Zamata (Home Economics). She may or may not wreak a little havoc, too.

Watch the exclusive interview with Kathryn Hahn during the emmy cover shoot.

"She had this solitary bravado, but she's been knocked off of her status," Hahn explains. "So now that there's just a little bit of this exposed vulnerability, she must admit that she needs other witches. This show is an unveiling of her true nature at her core under all those performative qualities."

The series takes on a decidedly darker spirit than WandaVision, as evidenced by the teaser trailer dropped in July. But fear not, for this Disney villain will still show off her impish side, complete with fun and games and music. As showrunner, executive producer and director Jac Schaeffer hints, "You get the camp and the sincere drama and the tiny moments and the spectacular comedy. And there's no way you can do a show on Agatha without having Agatha sing."

Take it from the boss: There's no Agatha All Along without its talented leading lady. "The direct and appropriate answer as to why Agatha makes for a good stand-alone series is Kathryn," says Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios and an Agatha executive producer. "You know that she's a hilarious comedian, but she's also a great dramatic actress. So, she is really tied up in the development of the character."

The star established an overall vibe in more ways than one. "When we were building the show, people always asked me what the tone of Agatha is," Schaeffer adds. "The tone is Kathryn Hahn. End of story."

In the beginning, there was no Agatha Harkness. Back in 2019, WandaVision already carried heft as one of the series scheduled to help launch the Disney+ streaming service. For the loose high-concept narrative, Olsen and Paul Bettany (as Vision) — reprising their respective Avengers characters — attempt to duck their doomed reality by hiding out in idealized sitcom suburbs across time and space. Then Hahn literally walked into the room. A beloved and versatile actress who had just wrapped her first TV starring role (in HBO’s Mrs. Fletcher), she visited the Marvel Studios offices to take a general meeting with executives — “We don’t really do it a lot because we like to be character-specific,” per Feige — about contributing to a series. Any series. Soon thereafter, those same executives sat in on a WandaVision development meeting, during which Schaeffer (who served as showrunner) pitched the idea of adding Agatha to the festivities.

“We needed an antagonist for Wanda, and I knew of Agatha from the comics,” Schaeffer says. “And for casting, we knew Kathryn had just been in the building. Everybody was like, ‘Could we even hope that someone like national treasure Kathryn Hahn would take the role?’” She did. Hahn simply explains, “Who doesn’t want to play a witch?!”

As WandaVision rolled out in early 2021, even ardent Marvel superfans were flabbergasted that Hahn’s prototypical nosy neighbor was really the centuries-old sorceress. To top it off, the twist was revealed via a Munsters-like theme song that would win an Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. It turned out Agatha had been secretly calling the shots the whole time — and she killed Sparky the dog, too! “I hadn’t even told my family about it,” Hahn says. “So just to be in the room with them watching in real time was so fun. My kids were legitimately excited, and they’re teenagers!”

Feige confirms the MCU brain trust did not greenlight the spinoff in the immediate aftermath. But they did keep tabs on the frenzied social-media reaction, which included memes galore of a mischievous Hahn winking to the camera. “We knew the character was really making an impression on the audience,” he says. “But the show was marinating for a long time before Jac turned it into the show we have.” Hahn didn’t receive the initial call until the summer of 2021, when she was filming the sequel to Knives Out in Serbia. The concept felt so big, she says, “I don’t think I could take it in. I thought of myself as a Marvel visitor, you know?”

Hahn didn’t just transform back into Agatha with a wave of her fingers. Aside from getting reacquainted with the character’s presence in Marvel comics (Agatha’s appearances date back to 1969), the actress talked to a bona fide witch every week during preproduction. “She was incredibly informative,” she says. “Women who are witches are very centered to the Earth and the environment. I wanted to get rid of that cartoon image we’ve all seen, because they’re way more connected and deeper. That’s the world we were trying to connect in Agatha.”

On the set in Atlanta during the first half of 2023, Hahn dazzled the cast and crew with her craft. “She created this incredible character with such professionalism and skill,” says costar Joe Locke (Heartstopper), who plays a mysterious goth named “Teen” traveling with Agatha and the coven. “I spent 12 hours a day for six months with her and probably learned more than what I could ever get from a drama school.”

He adds that she was equally impressive out of character: “On a Marvel set, there are so many people doing so many jobs, and everything is busy and quick. But Kathryn knew every single person’s name and what every single person did. She had the most amazing conversations with everyone. She was the perfect leader.” A year later, he boasts that the two are still tight. “She’s like a big sister to me. I know I can text or phone her about anything, and she’ll give me great advice.”

An effusive Schaeffer calls herself “a lucky creator” for having Hahn as her call-sheet number one. “She is so much fun, but she puts in the work and shows up entirely with her full body in person and soul,” she says. Noting that crystals and sage were in abundance on the set to get everyone in the proper mood, “It all felt very fun yet substantial. Kathryn would say that we were shifting molecules with our work, which was fantastic.”

Hahn, meanwhile, talks about her performance with earned wisdom. “I knew there would be something very profound for me at the age I’m in to be able to play this incredible crone,” she says. “To be able to just fall into it felt very dangerous and powerful.”

To read the rest of the story, pick up a copy of emmy magazine here.

This article originally appeared in its entirety in emmy magazine, issue #9, 2024, under the title "Super Natural."