Summary

The success of Agatha All Along proves that great storytelling can trump big budgets in Marvel Studios projects.
Marvel Studios can focus on minor characters with small budgets, opening up endless possibilities for future projects.
Fans are eager for more Marvel Studios shows like Agatha All Along with practical effects and minor characters at the center.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe was once the biggest franchise in the world, with each new release seemingly guaranteed to be a success. Then COVID-19 happened, resulting in very little content from Marvel Studios and most of Hollywood. Eager to return to the top, Marvel Studios released a ton of content in 2021, hoping to give fans plenty to be excited about after having released nothing for some time. One project to debut that year was the Scarlet Witch series, WandaVision, which introduced Kathryn Hahn as the villainous Agatha Harkness. With a single song, Agatha quickly became a fan-favorite, resulting in a spinoff series of her own with Agatha All Along.

The success of Agatha All Along came at the perfect time, as Marvel Studios had suffered multiple misfires at the box office and on the small screen, and needed to re-evaluate the quality of the content it was releasing. Along with its impressive ratings, Agatha All Along has something else working for it. The series has the lowest production budget of any Marvel Studios series produced for Disney+ with a reported $40 million. If there's one thing Marvel should take away from Agatha All Along, it's that not every project needs a big budget, so long as the creativity is there.

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By Lauren Rouse

Overview of Agatha All Along and its Success

Kathryn Hahn and Joe Locke in Agatha All along Cropped

When it was announced that Agatha was getting her own series, there was a sense of excitement and confusion among Marvel Cinematic Universe fans. Many wondered if Agatha needed her own series, and what Marvel Studios could possibly do with the character following the events of WandaVision. After all, Marvel Studios hasn't been known to take the time to develop their villains, let alone give them the opportunity to shine in their own projects. With Agatha, though, showrunner Jac Schaeffer found a way to both honor WandaVision, while still making something special concerning Agatha once she was freed from Wanda's spell. Despite focusing on magic and the witches road, Marvel Studios managed to tell an exciting, yet spooky story, featuring plenty of excellent effects, with a small budget that works because of the cast, storytelling, and creativity of all involved. It could've been a huge spectacle, a series with a huge budget behind it, but that could've also been yet another misfire for a studio eager to right its wrongs after multiple failures thanks to The Marvels, the very expensive Secret Invasion, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and the pricey She-Hulk.

Instead, the studio found a way to make small-scale, practical sets, while also using practical effects. The show doesn't look like the Marvel Studios films, and that's okay. It doesn't need to. Agatha All Along is story-centric, and that's exactly what it needs to be in order to succeed.

How Marvel Studios Can Focus on More Characters with Small Budgets

While it's unclear what Marvel Studios has planned for Disney+ in the coming years, it was recently revealed that the Vision series is set to enter production next year. The series, thought to be titled VisionQuest, is yet another spinoff of WandaVision and will see Paul Bettany return as the titular character. This is a series that has been rumored to be in development for some time, but was only recently confirmed to be happening. It's also the only new project announced by Marvel Studios for Disney+ as of late, with a slew of shows already deep into post-production yet, including Wonder Man, Ironheart, and Daredevil: Born Again. It seems the studio is slowing down its titles for Disney+, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, Agatha All Along is proof that Marvel Studios can very much deliver a great show on a small budget featuring a minor character, which could open up endless possibilities for the studio in the future.

Fans are understandably eager for more Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and even She-Hulk (to an extent), and while those shows seem unlikely to receive renewals, there is one other Disney+ production that deserves to be revisited: Werewolf by Night. Like Agatha All Along, Werewolf by Night was produced for a smaller budget and used practical effects in place of unnecessary CGI. The Special Presentation title was a hit among fans, with many showing interest in seeing more projects like it. Although a sequel hasn't yet been announced, it is a sign that Marvel Studios is open to new ideas. With a huge backlog of characters from Marvel Comics, Marvel Studios has the potential to deliver more quality projects for smaller budgets featuring unlikely heroes/villains at the center. In a recent interview with Variety, Marvel Studios' Brad Winderbaum, head of streaming, television and animation for Marvel Studios, promised the studio will be making sure to make shows with "reasonable budgets" going forward. So, perhaps the studio sees the success of Agatha All Along as endless potential. For now, fans will have to wait and see what the studio puts into development next.