Every episode of Agatha All Along has gotten people talking, and this week’s was no exception. “Death’s Hand in Mind” came with some big moments ahead of what’s sure to be an equally big finale, and creator Jac Schaeffer told all in an interview with Variety that’s heavy on details and spoilers down below.
First off, the leaks and theories were right: Rio, Agatha’s gal pal played by Aubrey Plaza, is Lady Death! When asked about the character’s inclusion, Schaeffer explained how she always wanted a “pursuant character” on the hunt for Agatha and her group. At first, this character—then just known as the Debt Collector—would’ve gone after the witches for “unpaid debts of witchcraft,” but the creative team ended up pivoting to Death. Why? In Schaeffer’s words, simply because it was “just so sexy. We were just like, ‘Who is the perfect ex-lover of Agatha Harkness?’ It was just so obviously Lady Death. It felt so right.”
But beyond the reveal, this episode belonged to divination witch Lilia (Patti Lupone), who’s been experiencing her life out of order. Schaeffer explained that while the character was always crafted as a fortune teller, the idea of a non-linear episode didn’t come until later on into writing. She knew it would be a difficult feat to pull off, so she conscripted WandaVision writer Cam Squires and writers assistant Gia King to tackle it together. Along with sprinkling pieces of the episode (deemed “Lilia’s bops”) throughout the earlier ones, Schaeffer says the team created a linear timeline of its events, both for their sake and Lupone’s so she was in the right frame of mind.
Speaking of Lupone, Schaffer said the episode had to be “spectacular” once the actor was cast. While Lupone was mainly focused on “the big emotion” and her character’s unraveling, Schaeffer kept on her point by reminding her that Lilia “is the constant. Whenever she’s feeling the deep emotion of it, that is correct, because she’s being wrenched all over the place. I think her process was finding when the pulling around really starts to trigger her vulnerability.” Several of the monologues Lilia has in the episode were tweaked by Schaeffer ahead of shooting, but she said Lupone asked if she could just do as it originally was on the page. “[Patti] was like, ‘No, I want to say all these things,’” said Schaeffer. “And bless her, I’m so glad she said all the things.
The episode ends with Lilia sacrificing herself to save the others from the Salem Seven, continuing the death count within Agatha’s entourage. Schaeffer called this a show “about death,” said Schaeffer, and she admitted to being interested in how comics and the MCU have tackled the subject in the past, saying it can be “immutable,” even as she believes the dead can remain in our lives. “Death is permanent, [and] with this show, we wanted to pay respect to that,” she said. “This a more earnest and grave conversation about death than maybe you would find in another superhero project.”
Agatha All Along’s two-episode finale hits Disney+ on Wednesday, October 30. You can read Schaeffer’s full interview with Variety here.
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