Agatha All Along is the deliciously spooky new series you need to watch immediately.

Agatha All Along is the spooky new series set to delight audiences with humour and horror in equal measure, something Kathryn Hahn alone is equipped to pull off in all her Agatha Harkness glory. 

"It was really a dream that I didn't even know I had," Kathryn Hahn tells Mamamia of bringing Agatha back to our screens, in one of Marvel's most exciting and unique projects to date.

"I'm still not over how special it was. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, in all ways, and it was also the most fulfilling."

Dare I say it's my favourite show of 2024? With retro fantastical effects, a coven of witches on a mission, and a star-studded cast, Agatha All Along is must-see television. 

Whether you're a die-hard Marvel fan with intricate knowledge of all the finer details, or you're brand new to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you're going to want to keep up with this show as new witchy and wonderful episodes drop each week 'on the road' to Halloween.

So, what makes Agatha All Along such a masterpiece?

Agatha All Along might just be the best TV show of 2024. There, I said it. Image: Disney.

Fans first met Agatha Harkness in Wandavision, the Emmy Award-winning series starring Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff (also known as, The Scarlett Witch). As a supporting character, Agatha was an enigma with something wicked and villainous lurking beneath the surface.

As the first person to discover Wanda's spell over the entire town of Westview, Agatha tried to take her powers and failed. She was placed under a spell by Wanda and bound to Westview "forever" with no memory of her real self.

The series picks up with the infamous and powerful witch living a somewhat ordinary life in Westview. I won't spoil the ins and outs as it's too enjoyable to watch unfold, but I will say it calls back to the genius way Wandavision played with classic television tropes through the years.

But then the cracks begin to appear. Agatha must claw her way out of this distorted spell.

Agatha Harkness returns in Agatha All Along. Image: Disney.

With the help of an unidentified boy known as Teen (Joe Locke), Agatha regains consciousness in Westview, with one kind of serious flaw: she has lost her powers. And these are dangerous times in which to be a witch without her magic. Especially since she's one of the most hated witches in the world.

Agatha's classic self-centred interest is piqued when Teen begs her to take him on the legendary Witches' Road, a magical gauntlet of trials that, if survived, rewards a witch with what they're missing. 

Together, Agatha and this mysterious Teen pull together a quirky and desperate coven of witches in order to set off down, down, down The Road. You'll come to learn I'm not just repeating myself, there is an iconic and catchy tune the witches must sing in order to make their pilgrimage. 

On the Witches' Road, what awaits them is an onslaught of trials set within an enchanted forest that routinely transforms to something new.

This show is everything you'd want in a spooktacular cinematic event.

It harkens back to a retro age of fantasy filmmaking. There are stunning jewel-tone costumes. There are vintage looking monsters reminiscent of Gremlins or American Werewolf in London, or basically any kooky and spooky monster from an 80s film. The set is whimsical, looking like an eerie yellow brick road from The Wizard of Oz with broken cobblestones, twisted trees, and danger around every corner.

And there are "almost zero" visual effects. 

"Agatha lost her purple magic, so it only really seems fair that this series loses its CGI as well," Executive Producer Mary Livanos says.

Built on an enormous stage set, the show relies on practical special effects and intricate set design. It allowed the actors to become "tethered" to their scenes, and as a viewer it envelopes you in this familiar territory of cosy witches.

"It was amazing. It felt like we were in a real magical forest," Hahn's co-star Aubrey Plaza says. "There was so much to look at. There were even bugs. It really helps with acting because you can see everything, and you can touch things. There was even a smell to it — the mulch on the ground, the water and the fog. It was very effective."

Hahn adds, "the outdoor scenes were inside these huge sets and it felt like a dream state. It really felt like that same kind of fever dream [as The Wizard of Oz]."

Down, down, down the road Agatha goes. Image: Disney.

Agatha All Along isn't just visually stunning. The performances are outstanding, too. 

While I think Kathryn Hahn is one of the funniest people on this planet, her darker and deeper moments bring some much-needed complexity to Agatha as she journeys down the road with her new coven.

Is she a villain? A hero? A sweetheart? An icon? Yes. All of the above.

Head writer and executive producer Jac Schaeffer offers some insight, saying Agatha is "classically" a villain in the sense that she delights in being one. 

"We like to say that she does operate according to her own code, and that is what distinguishes her from the [Marvel villains] of the world because it's not political and it's not global or universal. It's selfish, and it's about her and her survival and her desires, who she likes, who she doesn't like, who she respects, who she doesn't respect," Schaeffer says.

"And I enjoy that it keeps the stakes small. It keeps the story scope small. And those are the stories that really interest me in the MCU." 

As for Hahn, she thinks Agatha's internal struggle between good and bad is what made the role so enticing.

"I think that she is villainous, that she has some… maybe not so kind intentions… but I also think that despite her best efforts, there is a little spark of something human in there, although she can't even bear to admit it. There is something interesting there, about her desperately trying to cover that up," the actress tells us.

A fantastical world awaits Agatha and her coven. Image: Disney.

The series also stars big names including legendary musical theatre star Patti LuPone, Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation, The White Lotus), Sasheer Zamata (Saturday Night Live, Home Economics), Ali Ahn (The Diplomat), and Debra Jo Rupp (That '70s show).

"There's comedy, but it's not a comedy. There's drama, but it's not a drama. It's kind of undefinable. I think that's also what embodies a witch: you can't really define a witch either," Sasheer Zamata tells Mamamia.

"And I think Kathryn Hahn brings something really special, and it helped all of us to come along on that journey," adds Debra Jo Rupp.

I won't give away too much about their characters, because I feel the surprise and delight of this show's continuous twisty nature is what really makes it magical. Though, that hasn't stopped fans from speculating about the plot online. 

With Locke starring as the unidentified 'Teen' he's faced months of fans — and journalists — trying to 'break' his stoic silence as they point fingers at comic book characters he may or may not be portraying. 

Nobody wants to be a Tom Holland and accidentally spoil the series. 

"It's fun, the theories are great. And you know it's great to have a character that people are talking about and also, you know, it's fun to keep secrets when they're good secrets to keep," he tells Mamamia, with the sly smile of someone whose been dodging probing questions all day long.

Kathryn Hahn and Joe Locke in Agatha All Along. Image: Disney.

The first two episodes of Agatha All Along are now streaming on Disney+ with more to come each week.

What starts as something familiar and comfortable to fans of the MCU quickly evolves, as the first ever Marvel series devoted to witches continues to go from strength to strength.

One minute you're laughing, the next you're wondering if you need to sleep with a night light on because maybe you were a little bit spooked by that one scene, even if it was kind of kitsch and silly. And just when you think you know where it's going, they'll get you with a twist.

Agatha All Along is retro, camp, heartfelt, gory and glorious. It's the magical show that everyone will be talking about, and you should absolutely add it to your watch list.

Feature Image: Disney/Marvel.