From the outside looking in, it seemed as though Debra Jo Rupp was set to have an amazing year. She was slated to star in not one, but two fan-favorite series of 2024 ⏤ That ’90s Show and Agatha All Along ⏤ but now, just like that, everything has changed.
In a devastating turn of events, That ’90s Show was not renewed by Netflix only days after Rupp’s Agatha character, Sharon Hart, died in the Marvel series. Over on Instagram, everyone’s favorite television dad Kurtwood Smith broke the sad news to the world at large. While Netflix isn’t shy about axing beloved series, this one hurts. The sitcom was one of the few revivals that actually made sense and for a brief shining moment, it was okay to laugh again. But all too soon, our hopes have been dashed.
Rupp was most notable for playing the chipper matriarch of That ’70s Show, Kitty Forman. She reprises her role in the revival series, which follows Leia (Callie Haverda), Eric (Topher Grace) and Donna’s (Laura Prepon) daughter. As the flagship show had done before, That ’90s Show celebrated the nostalgia of its era.
Fans were disheartened to see the demise of Rupp’s characters
That ’90s Show wasn’t a niche show like Warrior Nun, nor did it have an exorbitant budget like Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. With only a few locations filmed on a stage, the series couldn’t have been that expensive to shoot. It also had a decent following, repeatedly ending up on Netflix’s Top 10. The issue with having content providers be dependent on subscribers means that too often, gems like these get left in the dust.
Smith promises that the series will be searching for a new home, but that is always the hope and so rarely the case. It’s such a shame, too, considering how the season ended. Leia finally has the chance to go to high school with her close group of friends only to get busted by Donna, Red (Smith) and Kitty getting up to no good on the roof of the high school. Her relationship with Jay (Mace Coronel) is also in dire straits after he lies to her. That ’90s Show is a fun-filled romp that only got better with each part released, and now we may never get to enjoy a new episode again.
The real salt in the wound, though, is what happened to Rupp’s Mrs. Hart in Agatha All Along. The character first cropped up in the fourth-wall-breaking limited series WandaVision as one of the innocent townspeople Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) traps in a hopeful reality wherein her poor robot lover is still alive. Even after Wanda leaves to cause more havoc in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the citizens choose to remain, including Sharon. This decision turns out to be a faulty one in that she once again gets pulled into some witchy machinations in Agatha, this time at the hands of Agatha herself, played by Kathryn Hahn. Not even a fully day into the coven’s journey down the Witches’ Road, Sharon dies from poison. Given that That ’90s Show was cancelled only a week and change later, it would be understandable if Rupp is currently deep in her feels.
This news is further sullied by the knowledge that Sharon is likely not to show up on Agatha All Along anymore. While witchcraft always comes with a few twists and turns, Aubrey Plaza’s Rio has taken over the role of the coven’s Green Witch, making Sharon’s role on the show no longer necessary. All fans can hope is that That ’90s Show will pull off a magic trick of its own and find a new streaming home.