KATHRYN HAHN IN WANDAVISION

Kathryn Hahn, photographed exclusively for Empire in Los Angeles on 2 November 2021.

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KATHRYN HAHN IS a scene-stealer. She has spent almost two decades making small yet impactful appearances in some of the biggest shows and movies around, from Parks And Recreation and Step Brothers to this year’s The Shrink Next Door, her golden comedy timing and exuberance often overshadowing, well, everything else. So it was practically inevitable that she would be tapped to play the ultimate supporting role in Marvel’s WandaVision Disney+ show, opposite Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda/Scarlet Witch: unassuming neighbour Agnes, who was hiding a magical secret. Agnes was, in fact, malevolent sorceress Agatha Harkness, and bringing spark and sardonic wit to every episode, Hahn turned her into a beloved MCU antagonist. As she tells Empire from her home in Los Angeles, this was more than just another role: it was a lifelong dream. It’s perfect casting, character fitting actor like a glove. You might say, it was Kathryn all along…

You’ve long been a wonderful screen presence, kicking off with 2003’s How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, yet when WandaVision came out, people took notice of you more than ever before.

You never know what is going to be the thing, or if there is ever going to be a thing. The fact that there was a thing at all I was terribly tickled by, and that it happened to be a Marvel show is hilarious. I mean, who would have thunk it in a bazillion years? We knew that we were making something special but I still have no social media myself. I’m kind of a technophobe so even when it was airing in lockdown, I had no real sense of how it was hitting. I was looking at every single thing with a grain of salt because the whole world was upside down. But as it was released weekly, there was something nostalgic about all sitting around the family heart that was the television and watching something together multi-generationally. And it was a superhero origin story about a woman and her grief. All those things together, it was a really interesting thing to be a part of, certainly as an actor, so I was thrilled. And playing a witch? Forget it!