Aubrey Plaza is joining Kathryn Hahn in the upcoming Marvel Studios series “Agatha: Coven of Chaos” at Disney+, Variety has learned from sources.
The series is a spinoff of the Marvel show “WandaVision,” with Hahn set to reprise the role of Agatha Harkness. Exact plot details, including the character Plaza would play in the show, are being kept under wraps. Emma Caulfield Ford is also set to reprise the role of Dottie from “WandaVision” in the new series, while Variety exclusively reported that “Heartstopper” star Joe Locke will also star “Coven of Chaos.”
As has been the case in the past, Marvel does not comment on projects they have in the works. Reps for Plaza declined to comment.
The role marks a reunion of sorts for Plaza and Hahn, as both previously appeared in the NBC sitcom “Parks and Recreation,” with Plaza starring in the series as April Ludgate, while Hahn memorably played political strategist Jen Barkley in roughly a dozen episodes. Plaza currently stars in the second season of the HBO anthology series “The White Lotus” as well as the FXX animated series “Little Demon.” She is best known for her roles in shows like “Parks and Recreation” and “Legion.” In features, she has starred in projects like “Dirty Grandpa,” “Ingrid Goes West,” and “Emily the Criminal.”
Plaza is repped by CAA, MGMT Entertainment and Schreck Rose.
Variety exclusively reported “Coven of Chaos” was in the works in October 2021, with Disney officially confirming the news on November of that year. Jac Schaefer, the head writer and executive producer on “WandaVision,” returns in that role for “Coven of Chaos.”
In “WandaVision,” Hahn started out playing the role of Agnes, Wanda and Vision’s nosy neighbor, before it was revealed she was in fact Agatha Harkness, a powerful witch. In the Marvel comics and the series, Agatha is shown to have survived the Salem Witch Trials and is more than a match for Wanda, a.k.a. Scarlet Witch. When viewers last saw her in the finale of “WandaVision,” Wanda traps Agatha in Westview by using her powers to force her revert to her Agnes persona.
“WandaVision,” the first live-action MCU show on Disney+, racked up 23 Emmy nominations upon its debut, including one for Hahn for best supporting actress in a limited series. One of the show’s win came in the best original music and lyrics category for the song “Agatha All Along,” which was used as part of the reveal that Hahn’s character was not who she appeared to be.
“Heartstopper” star Joe Locke has been cast in the “WandaVision” spinoff “Agatha: Coven of Chaos” for Disney+, Variety has learned exclusively from sources.
Locke joins Kathryn Hahn in the Marvel Studios series, in which Hahn will reprise the role of Agatha Harkness, whom she played in “WandaVision.” Exact plot details, including the character Locke will play, are being kept under wraps. Emma Caulfield Ford is also set to reprise the role of Dottie from “WandaVision” in the new series.
As has been the case in the past, Marvel Studios does not comment on projects they have in the works. Reps for Locke declined to comment.
Locke made his scripted television debut in the Netflix series “Heartstopper,” based on the web comic and graphic novel of the same name. He stars as Charlie Spring, a gay teenager who falls in love with a popular classmate played by Kit Connor. The show proved to be an immediate hit, with Netflix renewing the show for Seasons 2 and 3 not long after its debut. Locke then made his professional theater debut in August, starring in “The Trials” from writer Dawn King and director Natalie Abrahami at the Donmar Warehouse.
Locke is repped by Markham, Frogatt & Irwin and Sloane Offer.
Variety exclusively reported “Coven of Chaos” was in the works in October 2021, with Disney officially confirming the news on November of that year. Jac Schaefer, the head writer and executive producer on “WandaVision,” returns in that role for “Coven of Chaos.” A spinoff centered on Vision starring Paul Bettany is also in development.
In “WandaVision,” Hahn started out playing the role of Agnes, Wanda and Vision’s nosy neighbor, before it was revealed she was in fact Agatha Harkness, a powerful witch. In the Marvel comics and the series, Agatha is shown to have survived the Salem Witch Trials and is more than a match for Wanda, a.k.a. Scarlet Witch. When viewers last saw her in the finale of “WandaVision,” Wanda traps Agatha in Westview by using her powers to force her revert to her Agnes persona.
Hurricane Agatha made landfall at 4 p.m. CT Monday just west of Puerto Angel, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
This is the earliest a Category 2 storm has made landfall along Mexico’s Pacific Coast.
The National Hurricane Center warned of “extremely dangerous” coastal flooding from storm surge and “life-threatening” hurricane-force winds in the state Oaxaca. Heavy rains are expected to continue over southern Mexico through Tuesday.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm was expected to drop 10 to 16 inches of rain on parts of Oaxaca, with isolated maximums of 20 inches, posing a danger for flash floods and mudslides.
4pm CDT 30 May – #Hurricane #Agatha has made landfall just west of Puerto Angel, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph.
Since record keeping began in 1949, this is the strongest hurricane to make landfall in May along the Pacific coast of Mexico. pic.twitter.com/dUraseRoDe
— NHC Eastern Pacific (@NHC_Pacific) May 30, 2022
Near Puerto Angel, gusts of wind, heavy rain and big waves began lashing the beach town of Zipolite, long known for its clothing-optional beach and bohemian vibe, on Sunday night. Ominous grey skies and blowing sand cleared beaches in the popular destinations of Puerto Escondido, Puerto Angel and Huatulco.
“There is a lot of rain and sudden gusts of strong wind,” said Silvia Ranfagni, the manager of Zipolite’s Casa Kalmar hotel. “The ocean is really stirred up, and it’s raining a lot,” said Ranfagni, who has decided to ride out Agatha at the property. “You can hear the wind howling.”
National emergency officials said they had assembled a task force of more than 9,300 people for the area and more than 200 shelters were opened as forecasters warned of dangerous storm surge and flooding from heavy rains.
Jeff Masters, meteorologist with Yale Climate Connections and the founder of Weather Underground, said the region’s hurricanes typically get their start from tropical waves coming off the coast of Africa.
“Since the African monsoon typically does not start producing tropical waves until early- or mid-May, there simply aren’t enough initial disturbances to get many eastern Pacific hurricanes in May,” Masters wrote in an email. “In addition, May water temperatures are cooler than they are at the peak of the season, and wind shear is typically higher.”
Masters was not sure if Agatha was kicked off by a tropical wave – areas of low pressure that move across the tropics – but the storm has benefitted from warm waters and low wind shear.
Late Monday morning, Agatha accelerated slightly, as it moved toward the area near Puerto Escondido and Puerto Angel in the southern state of Oaxaca. The region includes the laid-back tourist resorts of Huatulco, Mazunte and Zipolite.
In Huatulco, municipal authorities canceled schools and ordered “the absolute closure” of all beaches and its seven bays, many of which are reachable only by boat.
The government’s Mexican Turtle Center – a former slaughterhouse turned conservation center in Mazunte – announced it was closed to visitors until further notice because of the hurricane.
Agatha, the first hurricane of the eastern Pacific season, had maximum sustained winds of 110 mph as of 10 p.m. Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said, up from 60 mph sustained winds at the same time Saturday night. Wind gusts of up to 130 mph were reported.
Agatha is now just shy of a Category 3 storm and is expected to continue gaining strength before making landfall Monday evening near Salina Cruz, Mexico.
The storm is located about 125 miles southwest of Puerto Angel, Mexico, according to the Sunday night update.
A hurricane warning is in effect for Salina Cruz to Lagunas de Chacahua. Tropical storm warnings are in effect for Salina Cruz eastward to Boca de Pijijiapan and Lagunas de Chacahua westward to Punta Maldonado.
Tropical storm conditions were expected to arrive across southern Mexico Sunday night with hurricane conditions arriving in the warning area Monday.
“Storm surge could produce coastal flooding near and to the east of where the center passes the coast in areas of onshore winds,” the National Hurricane Center said. “The surge may be accompanied by large and destructive waves.”
In addition to storm surge, heavy rains from Agatha will hit portions of southern Mexico by Sunday into Tuesday night.
“The heaviest rain is forecast across the Mexican state of Oaxaca, where 10 to 16 inches are expected but isolated totals up to 20 inches is possible,” the hurricane center said.
After crossing land, the remnant low of a dissipated Agatha could reemerge into the southern Gulf of Mexico by the middle of this week.
The National Hurricane Center has highlighted a 30% chance of development over the next five days across the region.
Marvel’s magic Agatha Harkness spins off from WandaVision to cast a spell on her own Disney Plus show.
Marvel
Remember the ’90s X-Men cartoon? Marvel is bringing it back in a new series on Disney Plus, along with new TV shows featuring Agatha Harkness, Spider-Man and Marvel Zombies. Plus, you can take your first look at Moon Knight, She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel in a special Marvel Cinematic Universe documentary streaming on Disney Plus now.
Disney celebrated the second birthday of its streaming service on Friday with a slew of teasers, videos and announcements for forthcoming films and TV shows including Star Wars, Pixar’s offerings and more. On the Marvel side, recent MCU movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings made its streaming debut, as did a couple of behind-the-scenes documentaries. Then there’s the Disney Plus Day Marvel Special, a documentary available now on the streaming service that gives a first glimpse of Oscar Isaac, Tatiana Maslany and Iman Vellani in their solo shows Moon Knight, She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel, all streaming in 2022.
It also reveals entirely new titles. There’s more MCU live action in Echo and a WandaVision spinoff titled Agatha: House of Harkness. On the animated front, you can look forward to Marvel Zombies, Spider-Man: Freshman Year and, get this: X-Men ’97, returning to the world of the classic cartoon.
Entertain your brain with the coolest news from streaming to superheroes, memes to video games.
If you add in the titles we already knew about (Secret Invasion, Ironheart, Armor Wars, I Am Groot and a Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special, and What If…? season 2), that adds up to 14 Marvel TV shows coming to Disney Plus in coming years. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige said, “We’ve had lots of different types of shows starting with WandaVision, rounding up the year with Hawkeye, and that’s always what we wanted out of Disney Plus — a place where we could bring and expand the MCU in new in different ways.”
First looks at Marvel’s 2022 shows
Marvel’s shows this year (WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Hawkeye) all focus on familiar faces from the MCU. 2022 is a year of comic book characters never seen on screen before, so these clips in the special are a first chance to see how they look.
Moon Knight is described as a “globetrotting action-adventure series featuring a complex vigilante.” Oscar Isaac stars as the rooftop-leaping hero, whose dissociative identity disorder and multiple identities are symbolized in the clip by lots of mirrors and even some different accents.
Marvel
She-Hulk, aka superhuman lawyer Jennifer Walters, is played by Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany. Marvel specifically refers to this one as a “comedy series.” The clip sees her meet Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk and make the famous promise “You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” The series will also see a return for rival big green guy the Abomination, played by Tim Roth and briefly seen in Shang-Chi.
Ms. Marvel introduces Kamala Khan, a 16-year-old Pakistani American from Jersey City who’s a huge fan of the Avengers and Captain Marvel. The clip features Kamala mixing her normal life at school and the mosque with trying out her new superpowers in a homemade costume. Ms. Marvel is set to debut in fall 2022.
Brand-new Marvel announcements
No clips or release dates for these yet, but Marvel announced these new projects.
• Echo stars Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez, a deaf superhero who will be introduced in Hawkeye.
Marvel
• Agatha: House of Harkness sees Kathryn Hahn return as the scene-stealing sorceress from WandaVision. Jac Schaeffer returns as head writer.
• X-Men ’97 is an animated series that “explores new stories in the iconic ’90s timeline of the original series.” The show ran from 1992 to 1997, suggesting the series will pick up where the previous series left off. We hope it has a similar animation style — and it better have the theme tune!
• Spider-Man: Freshman Year is an animated series following a young Peter Parker on his way to becoming the MCU’s Spider-Man. If that sounds kinda like something you’ve seen a million times before, Marvel promises “a journey unlike we’ve ever seen and a style that celebrates the character’s early comic book roots.”
• Marvel Zombies is an animated series from Marvel Studios, based on the popular comic and following the undead-themed episode 5 of What If…?
Stuff we already knew about
Marvel also has a few other series in the works that have been previously announced.
Secret Invasion: We first saw Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury team up with Ben Mendelsohn’s shape-shifting Skrull Talos in the movie Captain Marvel. This series follows a series of comics in which a faction of Skrulls was discovered to have infiltrated Earth.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: A special created by Guardians of the Galaxy writer and director James Gunn.
Ironheart: Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, a teenage genius who creates an Iron Man-style high-tech armor suit.
What If…? Season 2: After enlisting the Guardians of the Multiverse to stop Infinity Ultron, the Watcher returns in a new season of the animated series exploring different offshoots of the MCU’s ever-expanding Multiverse.
I Am Groot: A series of shorts following Baby Groot as the taciturn sapling grows up and gets into trouble among the stars. Acclaimed stop motion animator Kirsten Lepore directed.
If you can’t wait, there are also a couple of Marvel documentaries and recaps streaming now. Marvel Studios Legends: Hawkeye brings you up to speed for when Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld take a bow in their own series Hawkeye, starting Nov. 24. The 10-minute clip show follows the purple-clad archer’s history on screen in the MCU, recapping his journey from first showing up as a SHIELD agent in Thor, his brainwashing by Loki in The Avengers, siding with Captain America in Civil War and his adoption of the vigilante Ronin guise in Endgame. Having been there when Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow sacrificed herself during Avengers: Endgame, he’s also been set up as a target for her sister Yelena in the post-credits scene of Black Widow.
Marvel Assembled: The Making of Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings does exactly what it says in the title. This one-hour special is worth watching to see how they put together those thrilling martial arts fight sequences, plus lead actor Simu Liu makes a charming guide to the moviemaking process.
Movies coming in 2021 and 2022 from Netflix, Marvel, HBO and more
