Marvel TV Head Says Developing ‘Agatha All Along’ More Like ‘Traditional Television’ Makes Room for Experimentation

Brad Winderbaum adds that their new approach lets them “plan all sorts of different Marvel sandboxes,” including one for the fruits of “WandaVision”

Kathryn Hahn in "Agatha All Along" (Credit: Disney+)
Kathryn Hahn in "Agatha All Along" (Credit: Disney+)

If “Agatha All Along” feels more like traditional TV than past Marvel shows, that’s because it’s supposed to. In a conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Marvel TV head Brad Winderbaum explained that their approach to Disney+ series has been overhauled. Originally, the shows would pop in for a quick six-episode season that would hopefully serve the movies and the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that would be that. Things are changing.

“We’re always having multiple conversations and developing more than we make,” Winderbaum explained. “Now we are thinking about television really more like traditional television where they could last for multiple seasons, where we can see the characters brew in the culture for hopefully many years.”

The shows being given a chance to develop on their own rather than just serve as a satellite to the MCU’s film slate is the goal now, including “Agatha All Along” building its own TV-centric area spinning out of “WandaVision.” That’s likely to be music to many fans’ ears, as one of the largest complaints surrounding the Disney+ shows — and many streaming series more broadly — is that they’ve felt rushed thanks to being too short and didn’t allow the characters to develop naturally.

Luckily, it sounds like some of these shows and characters might grow beyond just a quick six-episode burst of life. Winderbaum added that the way they’re going about developing the shows has also seen some changes.

“One thing we are doing is we’re developing a lot of shows now simultaneously,” Winderbaum said. “So, in a way, we’re making television more in a traditional style where we are going to write multiple pilots and show bibles before we decide what we want to produce and actually bring to the screen, which gives us an opportunity to experiment and also to plan all sorts of different Marvel sandboxes.”

One of those sandboxes is clearly spinning out of the very first Disney+ MCU show – “WandaVision.” Not only do we have “Agatha All Along” right around the corner, but a show about the White Vision last seen in the “WandaVision” finale also has a series being worked on by “Picard” showrunner Terry Matalas.

That show was initially developed by “WandaVision” and “Agatha All Along” creator Jac Schaeffer, before she shifted to focus on “Agatha.” She also teased that there were other ideas for continuations to what was set up in “WandaVision” that could see life elsewhere in Marvel’s future TV and/or movies.

“Agatha All Along” lands on Disney+ on Sept. 18.

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