“Agatha All Along” is off to a strong start on Disney+, and its success is the latest part of Marvel’s plan to change up its TV strategy.
The nine-episode series stars Kathryn Hahn, Joe Locke, Aubrey Plaza, Patti LuPone, Sasheer Zamata, and Debra Jo Rupp. It serves as a spinoff of “WandaVision,” which debuted in 2021. But unlike that show, which reportedly had a budget in the nine-figure range, “Agatha All Along” is officially the “least expensive show” Marvel has made to date. That is according to Brad Winderbaum, head of streaming, television and animation for Marvel Studios.
“I can tell you it’s our least expensive show, and I think that was by design,” Winderbaum said in an interview with Variety. “We are looking to make these shows for a responsible cost. Frankly, it gives us a little bit more freedom creatively when we can bring them in at a reasonable budget. Like [“Agatha All Along”], for example, the show has minimal CG, way less than we’ve ever done before. It’s mostly practical effects, and I think you can feel it in the show.”
While Winderbaum wouldn’t go into hard numbers, it has previously been reported that the least expensive Marvel show was the “Hawkeye” spinoff “Echo,” with a reported budget of $40 million total for five episodes.
The strategic shift comes as everyone in the television business is looking to rein in massive budgets that have dominated the industry for the past several years. When Marvel Studios first began making shows tied to the MCU and featuring stars from the films, each show was reported to have a budget on par with a Marvel film, meaning somewhere in the range of $150 million or more.
Winderbaum says that the more budget-conscious approach “certainly holds true with ‘Daredevil’ and our future slate as we look down the pike at ’26 and ’27. That’s certainly the goal.”
But “Agatha” is an anomaly among the modern Marvel shows, in that it doesn’t feature any characters or actors from the films. When asked about the Vision series starring Paul Bettany, again reprising his role from the Marvel films and “WandaVision,” Winderbaum said it will “not necessarily” have as high a budget as the original crop of MCU shows.
“I think it’s about how you use the effects, as opposed to the scale of the effects,” he said. “And we’re responding to to our own recent history here, and how effective effects really are in increasing the value of a story.”
The company has relaunched its Marvel Television banner, with “Agatha” being the first new rebranded show to debut. The stated goal was to make it clear to audiences that the shows can be enjoyed without having to have an extensive knowledge of the MCU. The move appears to be paying off, with the show resonating with viewers on social media thanks in no small part to the performances by its lead actors.
Per Disney, the first episode of “Agatha” scored 9.3 million views in its first seven days of availability, with a view defined as total amount of time watched divided by runtime. Compare that to the “Star Wars” series “The Acolyte” on Disney+, which drew 11.1 million in its first five days but also had a reported budget of $180 million. And TV has always been a business where viewership is one factor for a show’s success, but always when weighed against cost. Winderbaum also claims the show has the best continuation rate of any Marvel show, but declined to provide further details.
“Agatha” is also the first show “WandaVision” creator Jac Schaeffer has made under her overall deal with Marvel Studios and 20th Television
“Jac is unbelievable,” Winderbaum said. “Any chance I get to walk around that woman’s imagination is like a gift. She’s an absolute genius storyteller. And I can tell you like there are so many twists and turns left to come in ‘Agatha.’”
“Agatha All Along” drops new episodes on Wednesdays on Disney+, with the finale scheduled for Oct. 30.
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