Agatha All Along creator Jac Schaeffer says it feels “escatic” to have the entire show out in the world for everyone to see.
Sitting down with Decider to talk about the witchy Disney+ series, the writer and director shared everything from the moment in the show that caused the entire cast and crew to shed tears on set to how it feels having the show receive rave reviews from fans and media alike.
**Heavy spoilers ahead for Agatha All Along‘s entire first season**
“It is, truthfully, it is so ecstatic. And sometimes, I feel it in my body. Sometimes I’m like, I have a headache because it’s all out there now,” Schaeffer said.
She explained that, in many ways, the feeling of watching her show take off — Episode 7 (“Death’s Hand In Mine“) received a whopping 4.2 million views within one day of streaming — feels clandestine and symbolic of the magical themes tackled in the show.
The showrunner added, “So it does feel witchy in that way. It feels like there’s a vibration that I’m on right now that is very intense, but mostly it’s gratitude.”
Schaeffer — also the creator of WandaVision, the show that inspired Agatha Harkness’ (Kathryn Hahn) spinoff — also touched on the possibility of a second season being in the (tarot) cards for Agatha, Billy (Joe Locke), Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), Rio (Aubrey Plaza) and any other coven members who come back from the dead… R.I.P. Sharon (Debra Jo Rupp), Alice (Ali Ahn), and presumably Lilia (Patti LuPone).
“With this show, we wanted to tell a complete story, and I hope that we did. But as a as a fan and as an admirer, I believe that there is so much more story to tell about all of these characters,” Schaeffer told Decider of the final two episodes of the (intended) miniseries.
In honor of the season finale, scroll down to read the entire interview with Schaeffer. Be sure to also check out Decider’s other coverage of Agatha All Along Season 1.
DECIDER: I’ll just jump right in and say that I’m loving the show and I feel like in this case, storytelling is really the most human form of witchcraft that we have. Conjuring something out of nothing, being able to tell a story. What does it feel like for you to see your words, to see your directions being beloved and bewitching so many people?
JAC SCHAEFFER: That’s beautiful. I say that very thing all the time about music, especially when I’m talking about the Lopezes, because I believe what they do is witchcraft. I think they’re casting spells with every one of their earworm bops that get inside your soul. But I hadn’t really thought about it in terms of storytelling, so that’s beautiful. I love that. I’m going to take that in. How does it feel? It is, truthfully, it is so ecstatic. And sometimes I feel it in my body. Sometimes I’m like, I have a headache because it’s all out there now. So it does feel witchy in that way. It feels like there’s a vibration that I’m on right now that is very intense, but mostly it’s gratitude.
Well, you mentioned music, and I wanted to touch on that because there have been so many incredible needle drops this season. Personally, I will never get over the Who’s “Sharon,” followed immediately by “Heads Will Roll.” Were there any songs that you would put on a playlist or that you listened to while you were creating this show, or do you think Agatha would have on a playlist for The Road?
Well, so that needle drop, I think that was Mary Livanos’ idea. And she, Mary, was really all about the needle drops and was always there with the suggestions. Also, Mary Parker, our music supervisor, was so instrumental in choosing the needle drops. For me writing this during this sort of process, I love Haim. I think that those three sisters are very witchy. Kathryn listens to a lot of Bjork — I love Bjork as well, sort of later stage. I listen to a lot of Taylor Swift because she’s a storyteller and I find that very inspiring when I’m trying to write as I listen to her songs. It makes me want to write. It’s sort of like a trigger for writing. Boygenius was a big one while I was working on this show, oh man. Boygenius with the like, Agatha-Rio love story. But then, also with some — a little bit of Metallica in there.
Well, there’s been so many great moments with Agatha and Rio and Agatha and Billy. And, you know, we’ve had some reveals in there. How did you guys decide when and where to do these reveals? Because they were very momentous.
That’s one of the hardest parts for me with this kind of work but also the most satisfying is plotting out the mysteries and [asking] how many mysteries do you have? How many is too many? When are you at risk of tipping everything over? I love television because there is a greater opportunity for reveals and rug pulls and twists and that kind of thing. Whereas in a feature you’re sort of you it’s, it’s much more condensed and you’re much more limited. So generally I feel like you have to, every episode should have some kind of reveal and then you should aspire to a cliffhanger at the end. So that’s essentially like two reveals. So that’s sort of one way I look at it. With the big ones in the show., I really wanted to unmask Billy around the midpoint because I knew people who would guess it. I didn’t want the audience to feel like we were playing with them, toying with them in a way that was uncomfortable or frustrating or unfair. And I also knew that we had enough in the tank to still hopefully dazzle people with our remaining three episodes.
Well, I talked with Daniel Selon before this costume director, and he said the show’s not done revealing itself. And the more surprises in store, anything you can tease, anything you can share?
I mean, I will say that I feel, you know, there are there are sort of Marvel-style story reveals. But I think more than anything, it’s sort of the emotional unfurling that I hope will feel satisfying and fulfilling to people.
And I want to touch on Episode 7, because it was a beautiful episode, just wonderfully directed. If you had told someone ten years ago that there would be a story in the MCU about an elderly witch who experiences time nonlinearly and that we’re going to get this project unpacking her trauma, they would not have believed you. Why was it so important to tell Lilia’s story in this way and in this time?
Well, when we were tasked with the witches in the MCU, you know, defining witchcraft in the MCU, the first question is, what is a witch? And so the representation piece was vital. That felt like our job on the planet for this project. My team of writers, we were like, it is our job to do the best we can to be representative of women and witches in different phases of our lives from different places with different sources of trauma, but all human and all as fully realized as we could get them, you know, in a nine-episode show. We always loved the character of Lilia. We always wanted her to be the oldest of the witches, and we wanted to sort of do this thing where she had the wisdom, but there was some sort of like, kooky piece that was being misunderstood. That was — that was a sort of sneak attack mystery like underneath the Billy stuff and underneath the Agatha stuff that we were sort of slow rolling, something that would come together. And then I just, I wanted to do a non-linear episode. I love non-linear storytelling and, you know, I’m a big fan of Lost, obviously, I don’t think anyone’s going to be surprised about that. You know, I love the film Arrival so, so deeply. And Memento was like hugely impactful on me as a storyteller. So this was an opportunity kind of selfishly to be like inside of this larger, very complicated narrative. We’re going to tell we’re going to have essentially a bottle episode that is entirely non-linear and has like tendrils through the, you know, through everything that’s come before. I still can’t believe we pulled it off. And it’s to let you know it’s the writers Cam Squires and Gia King did such an excellent job And then you know you get Patti LuPone you got to have a good episode to to give her.
What I mean is sitting I don’t know if you know this. It’s sitting at one of as one of the top-rated episodes of television on IMDb right now at 9.2. I looked it up and I was like, “Wow, my mind is blown.” But how much of that do you credit to Patti’s absolutely brilliant performance? It was just breathtaking.
Yeah, no, there is no Episode 7 without Patti LuPone. It is her that makes it sing — that’s so cheesy that I said that. But it’s true. You know, because I just I’m in New York and I just saw her on Broadway, and it was it’s it’s a pleasure to be with Patti in any way. But when you see her on stage like this woman, she has so much gravitas, while also the vulnerability is always there for someone as powerful. I mean, like real power, right? I’m in the business of of writing about women in power, but kind of the poem, this woman is just full of it, every cell that she has. But she can on a dime, you know, show you the emotion underneath. And it’s beguiling and it’s heart-wrenching. And yeah, the episode works because of her.
I am wondering, do you have a line that sticks out to you that it feels like it’s in the same ballpark as what is grief, if not love persevering from Agatha All Along?
Of course, all the things that are coming to my mind are all the jokes that I love. I do. And it hasn’t aired yet, so I can’t tell.
I mean, personally, the “I loved being a witch” hit me like the “we were girls together” park bench Have you ever seen the “We Were Girls Together” park bench?
No.
If you’ve never seen it, go and look it up. It will ruin your day. Just letting you know.
Okay, I will. I love my day being ruined with big tears. No. Okay. I’m going to use that as my answer. “I loved being a witch.” It gets me every single time. We all cried on the day. All of us behind the camera crying when she did that. And it, to me, that line does mean so much more than the words you’re seeing. It is such a — it’s just an enormous statement about a person’s time on the planet. So, yeah, that’s a good one.
I’m going to wrap with one more question. There are so many mini-series these days that are getting turned into maxi-series at the very end. Would you ever consider taking Agatha back on the road or giving her another story?
What’s a maxi-series?
Just a series that doesn’t end after one season.
I get it. So I will say — I like that. What I’ll say to that is, with this show, we wanted to tell a complete story, and I hope that we did. But as a as a fan and as an admirer, I believe that there is so much more story to tell about all of these characters.