The widely acclaimed Marvel television show WandaVision not only broke ground but also paved the way for the MCU to dash full-steam ahead into its serialized content on Disney Plus. It is largely considered the best MCU television show to date (at least by this writer), and in a matter of months, its spin-off Agatha: Coven of Chaos will gun for that pristine title when it airs to the masses early next year.
While much about the spinoff is unknown — except that it will star Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness — we now know that Patti LuPone will play the 450-year-old Sicilian witch Lilia Calderu and that she and Hahn are part of a coven that presumably includes actress Aubrey Plaza and Heartstopper actor Joe Locke.
Locke’s involvement with the show has been kept frustratingly (and excitingly) under wraps. We still don’t know whether he will play Wanda’s son Billy Maximoff, aka Wiccan or a Familiar, which LuPone alluded to when she spilled the beans on The View. What we do know, though, is that Coven of Chaos will likely become just as much a hit with the LGBTQ+ community as its predecessor, at least according to Locke.
When speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Locke, who treaded far more delicately than LuPone lest he also get reprimanded by Marvel, revealed that Coven of Chaos will lean into the campiness that made WandaVision such a surprise hit with the LGBTQ+ community. Regarding WandaVision, he said:
“The show is about misunderstood people and people who are alienated by their society for reasons that they can’t control. I think that resonates a lot with the queer community.”
The campiness of Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) channeling magic into different decades of TV sitcoms will be just as prevalent in Coven of Chaos, so says Locke (sans the sitcom aspect, of course).
“I think there’ll be some camp.”
Because Coven of Chaos has been billed as a dark comedy and stars three exceedingly talented actresses (Hahn, LuPone, and Plaza) who are capable of turning drama into humor at the drop of a hat, it makes perfect sense that the show would appeal to the same audiences who loved WandaVision.
Personally, Coven of Chaos is my most-anticipated MCU Disney Plus show to date. Yes, even over Secret Invasion and Loki season two. The idea that Marvel just might give us the perfect balance of magic, storytelling, and LGTBQ+ representation (fingers crossed for Locke as Wiccan), I think there’s no reason not to expect this one to live up to WandaVision. Especially since it might even introduce a character more powerful than Wanda.
There are still several more months of waiting to go until Coven of Chaos hits Disney Plus, but thanks to LuPone’s loose lips we at least know it will be sometime in the early months of 2024.
