In a hilarious twist, last week’s episode of Agatha All Along saw the return of one of the most controversial characters in MCU history when Evan Peters reprised his role as Ralph Bohner from WandaVision, but as it turns out Peters’ cameo and Ralph’ return was something that was planned from the start. During an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Spotlight with Jessica Shaw, Agatha All Along showrunner Jac Schaeffer said that Peters returning was something she knew the show would do from the start, but figuring out exactly which episode took a little bit longer but followed a similar rhythm as WandaVision.
So, I always knew that, you know, once it was an Agatha show and it was gonna be a spinoff and we were gonna return to Westview, I mean, even before that I was like, ‘If it’s Agatha, there will be songs, there will be costumes, there will be Evan Peters,’” Schaeffer said “That was kind of the thing because I love working with him so much and because I thought it was hilarious and we also always had more to his story and still have more to his story, so that was just fun. The fact that he became the kind of the exposition dump, I knew that I wanted to do, in WandaVision episode four is what we call The Rewind where we’re like, we’re in a sitcom and then, ‘Hey, just kidding.’”
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“So, I knew I wanted to do that again because that was just way too much fun and the sort of delight in revisiting what you’ve already seen from a new perspective, I love that kind of non-linear double narrative,” Schaeffer said. “It’s so thrilling to me, so I knew that we were gonna do that and I think kind of quickly, I think we settled on it being six because we knew the pilot would be the misdirect Mare of Easttown. Kind of its own bubble, and then episode two would be the pilot proper. That would actually be the table setting of the show, and then in my sort of internal rhythm, I felt you needed 1, 2, 3 trials before you pull the rug, which similar to WandaVision, you get 1, 2, 3 sitcoms and then you pull the rug. It’s just rule of threes, so then I can’t remember. I wish I could credit one of my writers. I can’t, maybe it was me. I don’t remember how we came up with it that he would be like the avatar of the backstory and we’re geniuses for doing it that way because Evan is one of those rare performers who can deliver on what would be boring exposition and make it like wildly entertaining and also live the real drama of it. He’s truly traumatized, but also make it funny, like it’s so specific, and he brought so much to the table. He came up with so many ideas. The witch spray was him. That weird, creepy rattle was him and he was, you know, I mean, he was there for a day. I barely saw him ’cause it just was so fast and he was very in character, but the fans seemed to have really enjoyed it and it’s a secret that we managed to protect so that also felt like a real victory.”
Peters’ first MCU appearance was initially one that fans were excited about as Peters had portrayed Wanda’s brother, Pietro/Quicksilver in the Fox Marvel universe so his appearance as Pietro in WandaVision appeared to bring the Fox X-Men into the MCU. However, that was quickly revealed not to be true when it turned out that Evans’ “Pietro” was actually just an actor named Ralph Bohner that Agatha had forced into things. It was a shocking twist at the time, but it also upset fans because it felt like they’d had the rug pulled out from under them, leading to Ralph Bohner arguably becoming the most hated character in the MCU. However, bringing him back on Agatha All Along offered fans a little bit of redemption for the character. This time when we see him, not only do we get to see how what Agatha did has impacted him, but he also helps inadvertently send Billy on his path to finding Agatha in the first place — and thus sending him on The Witches’ Road.
The appearance ultimately served as a nice little addendum to WandaVision and the secondary characters impacted by not Wanda’s hex but Agatha’s actions. It’s that little bit of perspective that helps ground the viewer in the fact that Agatha, while central to this current story, isn’t exactly the good guy — and Ralph does remind us of Agatha’s misdeeds towards him and even that she stole his entire life, including his Blu-ray collection.
Agatha All Along is now streaming on Disney+. New episodes arrive Wednesdays at 9pm ET.