Agatha All Along lands on Disney+ this week and will feature a few LGBTQ+ storylines and characters, including the mysterious character of 'Teen' played by Joe Locke.
The Hearstopper star spoke exclusively to Digital Spy about the queer representation in the TV show – and how important that is for Agatha All Along, and Marvel in general.
Locke explained: "It's great. I think Marvel has been behind the times in bringing in queer characters, which, you know is more because the characters and their stories, don't really delve into their personal lives as much.
"But what I love about 'Teen' is his queerness is a big part of him and is celebrated, but also not the only facet of him. He's got lots of lots of sides of his personality, which is really great."
Agatha All Along showrunner Jac Schaeffer told Digital Spy exclusively: "In our research about witches, both historically and in pop culture, there's a very strong intersection of the queer community and witches, so it felt necessary to pull that into the show, and also fun.
"It's sort of the thing that witches have been persecuted and othered throughout history, and I think that's part of the alignment between witches and the queer community.
"Agatha is an icon, she is so performative, in her essence, a drag queen. And so it felt important to pull that brand of camp and theatricality and the hair, make-up wardrobe, and so it's part of the fabric of the show."
Kathryn Hahn added to Digital Spy: "There is a huge portion of Marvel's audience that has not really been able to see themselves completely. The thing about it is that 'Teen' is gay, but it's not about that.
"The normalisation of it just felt very, of now, so that was also very important. I think that Jac [Schaeffer] did such a great job of writing that storyline, and Joe is like, so beautiful, and so perfectly himself, and has always been. So yeah, talk about magic."
Elsewhere, Agatha All Along's creator Jac Schaeffer has addressed why the show embraces music and singing so much, the cast has spoken about a potential crossover with Doctor Strange – and Elizabeth Olsen has responded to whether we could ever see Scarlet Witch return in some way.
Meanwhile, Joe Locke previously spoke to Digital Spy for our franchise Rainbow Crew, and shared some advice for young LGBTQ+ people.
Agatha All Along premieres its first two episodes on Wednesday, September 18 on Disney+ in the US, and Thursday, September 19 in the UK, with new episodes following weekly and a double bill for the finale.
Read more Agatha All Along news on our dedicated homepage
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Editor-in-Chief -Digital Spy
Laurence Mozafari (he/him) is a multi-award winning journalist, editor, and presenter, currently Editor-in-Chief at Digital Spy, the UK's biggest TV and movies website.
Before that, he held roles as Editor, Deputy Editor, and Associate Editor focusing on news, social, and video.Laurence hosted the BBC Sounds podcast Obsessed with Peaky Blinders in 2019, as well as his own podcast production, Time of My Life, where he interviews fascinating elders about their life lessons, including Only Fools and Horses' Sir David Jason, Star Trek’s George Takei and Bridgerton’s Adjoa Andoh.
He was previously at Bauer Media working as Digital Editor of Heat magazine’s website, Heatworld.com, and has worked at and written for Sky, NME, Q magazine, Grazia, Closer, FHM and dedicated careers website GoThinkBig.
He secured a first-class BA journalism degree at Staffordshire University, along with several NCTJ qualifications, and now has 14 years' experience in digital publishing covering TV, movies, music, gaming, tech, showbiz, and travel.
Laurence has been a broadcasting contributor on television and radio, including KISS, Heat Radio, BBC Radio London, Radio 5 Live, and BBC Breakfast. He is also a visiting lecturer at various universities teaching journalism, including City, University of London, Nottingham Trent, Staffordshire University and London Metropolitan.
Laurence has won numerous awards in his journalism career, including the BSME Talent Award’s Best Deputy Editor, the PPA's 30 Under 30, and the New Editor and Editor of the Year at the AOP and BSMEs. He led Digital Spy to win PPA's Digital Content Team of the Year twice, along with the British Media Awards’ Brand of the Year in 2021.
Laurence joined the committee for the British Society of Magazine Editors in 2022. He has since hosted panels with CEOs of Immediate Media and the Media Trust at the PPA Festival, as well as presenting his own radio show on Green Man Radio at Green Man Festival in 2022. Laurence is also a Brits voting academy member. Laurence has been lucky enough to interview numerous celebrities, actors, and musicians throughout his career. Arnold Schwarzenegger loved his hair, Jimmy Carr loved his coat and Antonio Banderas gave a shout-out to his mum. Laurence has covered set visits for The Witcher on Netflix and Marvel’s Inhumans, he got Daisy Ridley to do a Chewbacca impression and loves Marvel, PlayStation, Glastonbury and craft beer.
