What Did Agatha Do in WandaVision? Why Wanda Trapped Her in Westview

Whether you never watched WandaVision or just need a refresher, knowing what Agatha did to wind up trapped in Wanda’s spell is essential background for Agatha All Along. Let’s recap what Agatha did in WandaVision to wind up playing pretend detective in Westview.

What Did Agatha Harkness Do in WandaVision?

Agatha’s role in WandaVision is almost as murky as it is in the Marvel comics. We first meet Kathryn Hahn’s character as Wanda’s upbeat next-door neighbor, Agnes. Until the big “it was Agatha all along” reveal that gives the spinoff series its name, she seems like just another Westview citizen trapped in Wanda’s hex.

Except she very much isn’t. Agatha was only playing along with Wanda’s TV series fantasies to try and figure out the source of Wanda’s powers. We learn she once absorbed the magic of her entire coven to increase her own abilities, and now, she’s eager to do the same with the Scarlet Witch herself.

For all that Agatha joins Wanda on a trip down memory lane to uncover how she came to create the hex, she isn’t there to help. Not really. In fact, all those little mishaps that show the cracks in Wanda’s perfect world – including the death of her kids’ dog, Sparky – are revealed to be Agatha’s doing. As she says in her own little riff on TV theme songs, she’s “been pulling every evil string.”

In the series finale of WandaVision, the violet witch faces off against Wanda in a spectacular final battle. Agatha claims that Wanda’s chaos magic is too dangerous to be allowed, but it’s pretty safe to say that what she actually wants is to steal it all for herself.

Why Did Wanda Trap Agatha In Westview?

Wanda comes out on top in the final fight but at great personal cost. In part due to Agatha’s meddling, the perfect world Wanda created must collapse – and that includes losing her sons, Billy and Tommy. She watches the life she’s built melt around her, and you might think there’s no one to blame but herself.

Except it’s pretty clear she also blames Agatha, who not only meddled with Wanda’s spell but was also the one who forced her to see the Hex for what it was.

Related: Is Demonic Marvel Supervillain Blackheart Secretly in Agatha All Along?

And so, as she’s leaving Westview at the end of WandaVision, Wanda traps Agatha in the character of Agnes that she created. While the rest of the citizens of Westview return to their normal lives, the powerful violet witch is stuck inside the spell. She believes she is Agnes, which eventually evolves into the faux crime drama where Agatha All Along begins.

How Does Agatha Break Wanda’s Spell?

If Wanda’s chaos magic could force Agatha to live as Agnes for several years, how was she able to claw herself free at the end of the first episode of Agatha All Along?

The crime drama set up heavily implies this change is due to Wanda’s death, serving up a body that seems to match the Scarlet Witch’s description. However, viewers later learn that most of what we saw during that sequence was taking place only in Agatha’s magic-addled mind.

The character known as Teen also claims he had a hand in breaking the spell, while Aubrey Plaza’s Rio was coaching Agatha along as she broke free. While there are many possibilities presented, it’s still unclear just how exactly Agatha recaptured her own identity.

New episodes of Agatha All Along release on Wednesdays on Disney+.