Of all the Marvel shows to premiere on Disney Plus, Agatha: Coven of — sorry, I mean, Agatha: Darkhold Diaries is the one I’m most excited for.
I’ve always been a sucker for witchcraft. Anything relating to magic, really. WandaVision had a nice dash of that. Enough to quench my thirst, anyway. But the prospect of an entire show based on a coven of witches doing witchy things? Sold.
When Marvel announced — for the third time, mind you — that it was changing the name of Agatha: Coven of Chaos to Agatha: Darkhold Diaries (originally it was Agatha: House of Harkness), my immediate reaction was, “Oh no.”
A sudden name change, let alone three of them, is hardly reassurance that the showrunners know what they’re doing. Name changes bespeak last-minute changes, of winging it, of flying by the seat of your pants. At least, that’s the assumption.
As it turns out, the creators knew what they were doing all along. Agatha: Darkhold Diaries would always succeed Coven of Chaos as the show’s title. Aubrey Plaza, whose character we’re still unsure of, even confirmed this months before the announcement (more on this in a bit).
We’ll have settled on a final name when the time comes for Plaza to make her MCU debut and for Katheryn Hahn to reprise her role as the evil, thousand-year-old witch Agatha Harkness. Although I was — and still am — a fan of Coven of Chaos, there are more than a couple of reasons why I think Darkhold Diaries might be more fitting of the WandaVision spin-off. Better yet, I think it confirms how this Marvel show could follow in its predecessor’s footsteps and become the next big Disney Plus hit.
Secret Invasion might’ve taught it a very important lesson
I don’t know about you, but Coven of Chaos sounds a lot more daunting and foreboding than Darkhold Diaries. That being said, a daunting and foreboding show might not be what viewers get when they tune into the show, so a name change might not only be a good thing but also necessary. Mismarketing a series is among the most reprehensible offenses a show can participate in, if for no other reason than it swindles people out of their preconceived notions.
Take Secret Invasion, for example. That poor excuse for a Marvel show barely clung to the sentiment of its title, and by the end of it, many, myself included, came away thinking, “Wait, where was the secret invasion part?”
Sometimes, that can be a good thing, like if a movie only gives away a fraction of its plot in the trailer. But a name that bears no resemblance to the show itself is another matter entirely.
Of course, Patti LuPone, who plays a 450-year-old Sicilian witch named Lilia Calderu in Darkhold Diaries, confirmed that the series will consist of a coven of witches, including her, Hahn, and Plaza. So, the former title wouldn’t have been too deceiving, per se.
Nevertheless, if the events of Darkhold Diaries are less about the coven and more about the specific events they embark on, such as mystifyingly hilarious adventures related to spells and quests written within the Book of the Damned, then Darkhold Diaries could be more fitting.
This leads me to my next point.
The new title could foreshadow isolated stories of chaos
As mentioned briefly in the previous point, the very notion of a diary indicates a series of events occurring over time that must be recorded on paper either at the end of a story or at the beginning and then told in reverse. Perhaps instead of a slow-burn thriller such as Secret Invasion that contains an overarching plot marching steadily along, Darkhold Diaries will consist of isolated stories that, when combined, carry the plot to the finish line.
WandaVision employed this tactic to a tee. The main plot was seamlessly woven into one-off episodes that, at the time, had many scratching their heads. The result was this unspoken feeling of suspense that became undeniably palpable over time. Something is going on here, we all thought. Something is happening.
There are numerous ways Darkhold Diaries could pull this off. Each episode could be dedicated to an important adventure that we don’t actually know is important until after the fact. Each episode could explore the backstories of Agatha’s coven or Agatha herself without letting on too much about its eventual purpose. Each episode could, in essence, be its own thing.
This segues perfectly to the next point and the biggest one of all.
Agatha: Darkhold Diaries might — just might — change titles the way WandaVision changed genres
WandaVision, as you know, changed genres every episode, ranging from a ‘50s sitcom to romance, drama, superhero fiction, and so on. Similarly, Agatha: Darkhold Diaries could change titles each week. House of Harkness, Coven of Chaos, and Darkhold Diaries could all end up being titles of the show, and this whole time, we could have been unknowingly spoon-fed the Easter eggs.
It’s a far-fetched concept, but it’s not entirely implausible, especially considering Aubry Plaza posted a video from the set of a chairback embroidered with Darkhold Diaries months before the new title change was announced.
Joe Locke — who may or may not be playing Wanda’s son Wiccan — did the same thing when he posted a photo from the set of a chairback with the title Agnes of Westview. And let’s not forget the original title, House of Harkness. That seems like a suspicious amount of title changes for any franchise, let alone a struggling one like Marvel. If I’m correct, don’t be surprised if Marvel reveals Agnes of Westview as the show’s next title.
All of this feeds into the notion that Marvel is intentionally teasing us and completely contradicts notions that it has no idea what it’s doing. In fact, Marvel could be three steps ahead, and we look like the fools.
Agatha: Darkhold Diaries probably knows exactly what it’s doing by changing the title for a third time
Think of it — a new show title every week. It’s not just a new episode name but an entirely new show title for nine straight weeks. It’s never been done before, at least not to my knowledge, and it could produce hilarious results, such as publications like ours keeping track of what’s what. Such deceit is exactly what Agatha would live for and might even indicate that we, the audience, will be strung along.
I don’t know about you, but the possibility that Agatha: House of Harkness, er, Coven of Chaos, er, Darkhold Diaries knows exactly what it’s doing and is doing it in such a self-referential way, gives me hope that not only can it live up to the hype, but that it can also pave the way for more intelligent MCU projects going forward.
The rumored MCU debut of Mephisto, Ghost Rider, and Wiccan are currently taking up residence in the Darkhold Diaries conversation. Previously, that seemed like an impossible feat, but somehow this new prospect of title changes lends itself nicely to the notion of one bombshell revelation after the next.
How exactly the show plans to pull everything off remains to be seen, but I think it’d be wise not to count Agatha out just yet.