Plot description revealed for WandaVision spinoff Agatha: Darkhold Diaries

WandaVision was the first-ever Marvel TV show on Disney+, and if you ask a lot of people, it’s still the best. The show pit Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) against Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), a witch who wanted to use Wanda’s powers for her own gain. And also Wanda warped reality so it resembled sitcoms from the past 60 years of television history. Also Agatha had a theme song. Hey, it was weird but it worked.

Agatha was a campy, over-the-top villain who quickly gained a lot of fans. Smelling success, Disney greenlit a spinoff of her very own: Agatha: House of Harkness. Per Deadline, that name was eventually changed to Agatha: Coven of Chaos and finally to Agatha: Darkhold Diaries. (The Darkhold is an evil spellbook in Marvel mythology, FYI.)

Is it just me or is the final title the least of the three options? I would have called the show Agatha All Along and moved on with my day.

What happens in Agatha: Darkhold Diaries?

When last we left Agatha, Wanda had trapped her in a magical spell where she was doomed to forever play the role of the nosy neighbor, a part she cast herself in to get close to Wanda during the events of WandaVision. Will Darkhold Diaries follow her now trapped in an eternal sitcom purgatory? Will she break the spell? Maybe it’ll be a prequel? Thanks to a short description of the premiere episode in the U.S. Copyright Office Public Records System, we know what Agatha will get up to:

"In the first episode we see Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) finally break out of a spell she has been trapped in. She can’t wait to go back to her old murderous ways only to find that she is powerless. The only way forward for her is to embark on a perilous quest to get her powers back with the help of an unlikely friend or two."

So Agatha: Darkhold Diaries will pick up with Agatha after the events of WandaVision. Maybe it’s just because I watch too much TV, but between Yennefer losing her powers on The Witcher and Moiraine losing her powers on The Wheel of Time, I’m kind of over stories about sorceresses going on quests to regain their lost powers. I would not have thought this was such a common go-to for TV writers. Darkhold Diaries better have some fun songs to make up for it.

Joe Locke promises “camp” in WandaVision spinoff Agatha: Darkhold Diaries

Agatha’s “unlikely friends” may be members of her old coven, which will include characters like Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza) and Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone). The both of them give off very witchy vibes, so I approve. Joe Locke, who’s shot to fame as Charlie Spring on the Netflix show Heartstopper, is also in Agatha: Coven of Chaos, possibly as another member of this coven.

“With Marvel, I was very determined to get the part,” Locke told Entertainment Weekly. “I had never been that determined about anything before, which I think meant that I was putting my energy into it. But I also think I’ve just been one of the luckiest people in the world in the last two years.”

Locke was a fan of WandaVision, which he thinks spoke to the queer community. “The show is about misunderstood people and people who are alienated by their society for reasons that they can’t control,” Locke said. “I think that resonates a lot with the queer community.” Also we can’t forget the campiness; you heard the song, right? Locke promises more of that in Darkhold Diaries. “I think there’ll be some camp.”

Agatha: Darkhold Diaries also stars Sasheer Zamata, Jen K, Ali Ahn, Emma Caulfield Ford, Maria Dizzia, Miles Gutierrez-Riley and Okwui Okpokwasili. It’s due out on Disney+ sometime in the back half of 2024.

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