Aubrey Plaza Joins ‘Agatha: Coven of Chaos’

‘Orange is the New Black’ veterans Ali Ahn and Maria Dizzia are also aboard, while Emma Caulfield Ford will be back as Dottie.

Aubrey Plaza in 'Emily the Criminal.'

The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s TV arm is expanding to such a degree that now there are spin-offs of spin-offs. ‘WandaVision’, the first official show launched under Kevin Feige’s watch on Disney+ (as opposed to, say the Netflix “Defenders” shows or ‘Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’) is already spawning its own follow-ups.

First off the blocks (at least in terms of development) is ‘Agatha: Coven of Chaos’, which has been in the works for a while and will see the return of Kathryn Hahn’s troublemaking witch Agatha Harkness, who caused so many problems for Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff. That is, until Wanda (drawing on more of her Scarlet Witch power) condemned Agatha to live as Agnes, the nosy neighbor character that she’d created to infiltrate the fantasy world Wanda had built for herself to hide from the grief of losing Vision (Paul Bettany).

While ‘WandaVision’ was built around sitcoms that represent Wanda’s happy place, we don’t yet know what sort of show ‘Coven of Chaos’ will be, other than it presumably sees Agatha regaining her personality somehow.

(L-R): Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness and Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff in Marvel Studios' 'Wandavision' exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

We have at least learned about some of the people who will be populating the new series, as Aubrey Plaza, Joe Locke, Ali Ahn and Maria Dizzia are all new recruits for the series.

This being Marvel, there has of course been no official statement confirming their casting or specifying who they’ll play, though Plaza is reportedly taking a villainous role. It’ll definitely be fun to see Hahn and Plaza interact whatever the latter ends up doing, since while Hahn sometimes appeared on ‘Parks and Recreation’ (where Plaza was one of the leads), they rarely shared scenes.

Locke, meanwhile, has become a rising star after the first season of Netflix’s ‘Heartstopper’ and while his character is also a mystery, speculation has already begun that he could be an older version of Wanda’s son Billy Maximoff. We will, of course, have to wait and see.

Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness in Marvel Studios' 'Wandavision'

Ahn and Dizzia both appeared on ‘Orange is the New Black’, though Ahn was more recently seen in ‘Raising Dion’ and Dizzia was among the cast for HBO Max based-on-truth drama ‘The Staircase’.

And they’re just the newcomers to the MCU – Emma Caulfield Ford, who played Dottie in ‘WandaVision’ revealed to Vanity Fair that she’ll be back as Dottie, one of the townsfolk of Westview whose personalities were altered as part of Wanda’s giant spell.

Jac Shaeffer, who created and served as head writer on ‘WandaVision’ is overseeing the new show also.

Paul Bettany as The Vision in Marvel Studios' 'Wandavision' exclusively on Disney+.

And that’s not the only series she’s guiding. At a much more embryonic stage is ‘Vision Quest’, which would see the return of Bettany’s synthetic being following the events of the show.

The team behind The Hot Mic podcast is reporting that the new series could conceivably draw from comics that saw Vision looking to regain his memories and emotions. At the end of ‘WandaVision’, the version of Vision built by S.W.O.R.D. operatives to battle the one in Wanda’s spell, known as “White Vision,” due to his pale appearance and mind wiped personality, flew off, presumably to start his own search for meaning and personality.

First, though, Shaeffer will see ‘Agatha: Coven of Chaos’ start shooting early next year, with the director(s) still to be announced. ‘WandaVision’ helmer Matt Shakman is, after all, going to be a little busy…