A controversial Harry Potter alumni was offered half a million dollars to appear in Agatha in the MCU, and reveals exactly why she turned it down.

Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch and Agatha Harkness

An outspoken Harry Potter actor revealed that she turned down a huge paycheck to join the MCU. The comments resurfaced when an interview from September 2023 went viral on X.com, revealing the kind of money Marvel Studios was offering to the cast of Agatha, the upcoming WandaVision spin-off that will finally arrive in late 2024. The 2024 chapter of the Marvel timeline of movies and shows may be quiet, but it can’t be long before that project’s marketing campaign kicks off for real.

Miriam Margolyes – who recently courted controversy by suggesting that adult fans of Harry Potter should “grow up” – spoke to Australian news outlet News.com.au while promoting her autobiography “Oh Miriam!” about her near miss with the upcoming Agatha TV show. In the book, she mentioned having turned down a Marvel role, explaining that the parties were unable to reach a financial agreement. She then followed up with more detail, revealing exactly why she rejected the opportunity:

“They contacted me and said, ‘we’re doing a story about witches’. I thought, ‘oh god, not witches again, because I’ve done that with Harry Potter… I don’t like America and I didn’t want to be in Georgia for four months. So I just said, ‘well, I want a million pounds ($1.2 million)’ and they said, ‘you can have half a million’, and I said, ‘no, I don’t want to do it’, so it just stopped. Really it’s a story about my own greed rather than anything else.”

It’s reasonable to suggest that Margolyes would have been up for the role of Marvel witch Lilia Calderu, which went to Patti LuPone. The two are just 8 years apart in age, and the rest of Agatha‘s cast fits a completely different profile.

Miriam Margolyes played Professor Pomona Sprout in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in 2002 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in 2011.

Sadly, Miriam Margolyes Would Have Been Perfect For Agatha

Thespian Training, Comedy Skills & A Magical Background Make A Powerful Combination

Miriam-Margolyes-as-Professor-Sprout-from-Harry-Potter-and-the-Chamber-of-Secrets

Despite her professed dislike for working in the US, Margolyes has acted in a number of high profile American movies, including Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, Yentl opposite Barbra Streisand, and Martin Scorsese’s Age Of Innocence, for which she won a BAFTA as Best Supporting Actress. She may now be more notable for what she willingly says in interviews – with very little self-censorship, as UK viewers have become very accustomed – but she is a very gifted actor with a decades-long stage and screen career. And she would have brought excellent and very different energy to the MCU.

Not only has she played witches before – both the wholesome Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter movies and also on stage in Wicked as Madame Morrible – but she is very good with comedic material, as well as darker storylines. Given the dynamic expected in Agatha after WandaVision introduced Kathryn Hahn’s titular villain and with the rest of the expanded cast in mind, she would have fit well. Sadly, it was clearly not meant to be, with Margolyes untempted by Marvel’s generous offer to meet her halfway to the outrageous demand she tried to put them off with. Still, her comments on adult fans needing to grow up might have proved something of a publicity nightmare to navigate as Agatha nears release.