The Big Picture

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff sits down with
Agatha All Along
stars Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, and Debra Jo Rupp.
During their chat, they recall the moment they knew this was the perfect ensemble of actors for the show.

Agatha All Along
begins streaming on Disney+ on September 18th.

Witches often come in spellbinding trios. We’ve seen what Kathryn Hahn can do with this gleefully villainous character in WandaVision, but three forces to look out for in Agatha All Along are most definitely Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, and Debra Jo Rupp, who tease, “There’s a reason that we were teamed together,” during their interview with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff.

For Rupp, this wasn’t her first voyage into the MCU. She was first introduced as Mrs. Hart in WandaVision, along with Hahn’s Agatha Harkness. In the spin-off, she returns when Agatha — recently released from Wanda’s (Elizabeth Olsen) spell — rallies a small coven to walk the Witches’ Road with her and her saving grace and mentee, Teen (Joe Locke). Zamata and Ahn, however, are new faces to the MCU, but not to Marvel. In this series, these two fellow witches, Jennifer Kale (Zamata) and Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ahn), will join Agatha on a journey to the end of the Road, wherever that may take them.

During their conversation with Nemiroff, Rupp, Zamata, and Ahn share the first moment they realized Agatha All Along’s cast was something truly special. Just like a witch’s coven, each of them brings their own strengths to the ensemble, and the three of them discuss what stood out on set. They also reveal the costars they’d team up with to walk the Witches’ Road. You can watch the full discussion in the video above or read the transcript below.

‘Agatha All Along’ Assembles the Perfect Coven

PERRI NEMIROFF: My first question for you is an ensemble question, because it feels to me a show like this does not work without the perfect group of people. Can you each recall the first time on set you stopped and said to yourself, “I’m with the right group here. This is how it should be?”

SASHEER ZAMATA: I think I felt that way during the read-through.

ALI AHN: Me too.

ZAMATA: As we heard each other embody the characters, it was so nice, and it felt so natural.

AHN: There was a really relaxed energy. Everyone was really curious, and there was a lot of space for questions.

DEBRA JO RUPP: I was not there, so I don’t know what they’re talking about.

AHN: She didn’t get invited. [Laughs]

Image via Disney+

RUPP: For me, it was the chant that we did. When I heard everyone sing, I thought, “Are these singer people?” And when I realized they were not, but it was working, I just went, “Oh wow, we’re going to make something really, really good here.”

I’ve watched your D23 performance an unhealthy number of times. Beautiful job with the music here. I’m obsessed with that part of the show.

One of my favorite things to do is force co-stars to give each other flowers. Can you each tell me a time when you saw another star of the show do something that made you stop and go, “My god, that was above and beyond what I expected, and I’m so proud of you?”

AHN: I will say that there was a scene that I remember [Sasheer] was nervous about because she had to go to this emotional place, and she had this quite chunky piece of text. I just remember watching her kind of take a leap of faith and go for it, and I was just so proud of her watching her do that because I knew it was something that she hadn’t had an opportunity to showcase yet on camera before. It was really cool to be in the room for that.

ZAMATA: Thank you very much. I’ve watched Ali multiple times where I’m on the other side of the camera and they’re giving her coverage, and I’m tearing up watching her because she’s just reaching a point of emotion and depth that is just so beautiful to watch. And then I can’t believe how physical Debra Jo is. She is such a great physical actress.

AHN: Her timing is perfect.

That’s exactly what I was just thinking. You have a couple of lines where the timing and the tone are just perfect.

AHN: It’s actually obnoxious how much she steals scenes. We’re doing stuff, and then she just pipes up with one little line, and then we’re destroyed.

ZAMATA: And she’s not being told to do this. You turn around, and she’s, like, messing with her shoe, and you’re like, “Oh, okay. That’s now your bit.” [Laughs]

AHN: “Oh, you’re getting creative now? You’re gonna add stuff?”

RUPP: There would be times when they would be walking down the road, and they’d turn around and go, “What are you doing?” [Laughs]

AHN: I was like, “It’s definitely not me. I’m not bringing this to the table.”

Debra Jo, how about for you, a time when you saw a co-star do something that wowed you and made you proud of them?

RUPP: I really can’t think of one particular time because I think my expectation was so high from everybody, and I was never disappointed. I would watch them, and I couldn’t do it better. That’s, for me, like the highest [compliment]. I couldn’t do it better. It was perfect.

This Trio Isn’t Walking the Witches’ Road Without Each Other

I have a silly question to end on. I’ll admit it puts you all on the spot a little bit. Let’s say you, as in real you, had to walk the Witches’ Road. I want you to pick two Agatha All Along co-stars that you would want to team up with that you would think would give you the best chance of surviving the road.

RUPP: I would pick these two. I think I would.

AHN: Oh, snap!

ZAMATA: I think I would also pick these two.

I need to know why.

RUPP: I feel like they were part of my journey. They were the biggest part of my journey making this. I mean, there’s a reason that we were teamed together here. I knew that when we were coming back here to do this, I was very excited. There was a closeness. Our downtime was a lot of the same. We ate so many peanut butter sandwiches together.

Image via Disney+

Oh, I’m interjecting. Please tell me the specific peanut butter sandwich recipe.

RUPP: The Chubby’s! Do you know those Chubby things? Well, I discovered those.

I’m picturing Uncrustables.

RUPP: It’s kind of like that.

ZAMATA: I do love Uncrustables.

AHN: Oh, she loves those!

RUPP: And we found those, too.

AHN: That’s all Sasheer. That’s her go-to snack.

RUPP: They’re interchangeable, actually.

As if I didn’t have enough respect for all of you already, knowing that that was your on-set snack brings me life right now.

Walk the Witches’ Road with this ensemble cast when Agatha All Along premieres on Disney+, September 18. Keep an eye out for more from Perri’s interviews with the show’s cast and creatives.