agatha

Agatha

Disney

Disney has previously talked about how they need to slim down their Marvel offerings to avoid oversaturation, with an eye toward its litany of past, current and future Disney Plus series. But one idea from the initial launch seems to have held on, and it’s hard to imagine it performing well, no matter its eventual quality. That would be Agatha All Along.

Agatha All Along just released a new image at Empire showing its group of witches opening some sort of basement door revealing…something. But I’m wondering how it’s possible this is going to perform even reasonably well for Marvel.

The main thing we’ve heard about the show for months is how often it’s changed its name, going from Agatha: House of Harkness to Agath: Coven of Chaos to Agatha: Darkhold Diaries. Now its settled on Agatha All Along, the Emmy-winning musical number from WandaVision, and it seems like those other names may have been just some sort of weird marketing stunt.

While Kathryn Hahn is great and it’s neat that someone like Aubrey Plaza is also in the series, we are getting into very obscure Marvel territory with its magic-based witch storylines. A major component of the series seems to be setting up Joe Locke as Wiccan, the son of Scarlet Witch in the comics and a member of the Young Avengers, another concept the MCU seems to be assembling.

But looking at what Disney shows have performed badly in terms of viewership, this is why it feels like Agatha, a show no one really asked for, has a chance.

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Secret Invasion

Marvel

The second-worst performing show is Secret Invasion, which starred big MCU player Nick Fury, a role reprised by Samuel L. Jackson and was more or less a direct continuation of the billion-dollar grossing Captain Marvel (minus the hero herself). It famously had an over $200 million budget, but was the second least-watched series.

The lowest-performing show we know about? That would be Ms. Marvel, which proves the concept that it doesn’t matter if the series is great, it’s actually the highest-rated live action MCU project ever. It also starred with the high-profile comic hero Kamala Khan played excellently be Iman Velani, and it just didn’t get people to watch.

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How can Agatha even top those shows? Again, quality doesn’t matter here, it’s the concept of these series in the first place as this simply does not seem like a show that should have been greenlit if Disney is interested in actual viewership. We don’t know its budget, so hopefully it’s nowhere near Secret Invasion territory, but star Patti LuPone says it “looks like a $100 million movie.” If it did not cost $100 million, that would certainly be ideal, but I’m not sure LuPone has access to Disney financials.

As a viewer, all I want is a good show to watch. But in terms of how this is going to perform, Agatha lacking significant viewership seems like an inevitability.