Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, TV | Tagged: agatha all along, Dolly Parton

Agatha All Along Showrunner on That Dolly Parton/"Jolene" Easter Egg

Agatha All Along showrunner Jac Schaeffer confirms Dolly Parton's "Jolene" is Agatha Harkness in the MCU and explains how it came together.

There's no question how much of a role model, legendary musician Dolly Parton has become in her career spanning nearly seven decades, which is even more amazing considering she started at the age of nine. Not only are her songs still getting airplay, but she's remained relevant in the pop culture sphere as an active performer; she also makes the occasional TV appearance with the Fox series Call Me Kat, Hulu's The Orville, and Netflix's Gracie and Frankie (and shockingly not playing herself). In fact, if it wasn't for Parton, we very well might not have Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Google it). With the latest episode of Agatha All Along "Familiar by Thy Side," it seems showrunner Jac Schaeffer threw a nod to the legendary singer, who's crossed over into several genres with country, country pop, bluegrass, gospel, and rock with a nod to Parton's 1973 hit single "Jolene" from the album of the same name.

Agatha All Along Showrunner on Referencing Dolly Parton's "Jolene"

The theme surrounding the sixth Agatah All Along episode stems from the reveal of Joe Locke's character of "Teen" to be William Kaplan, the vessel of Billy Maximoff, one of two twin sons of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), along with Tommy. Billy is better known as Wiccan, who shares his late mother's abilities of magic, while Tommy, aka Speed, shares characteristics of his uncle, Pietro Maximoff (Aaron Taylor Johnson). During the events of WandaVision, it's revealed that Agatha Harkness (Kathyrn Hahn) made Ralph Bohner (Evan Peters) assume the identity of Pietro with an artifact granting him superspeed powers. It was initially teased that Peters, who played "Peter"/Quicksilver in Fox's X-Men Cinematic Universe, would do the same in the MCU, but Schaeffer brilliantly threw that curveball and even expanded Ralph's role in Agatha All Along, coping with his loss of time from being enthralled in Westview.

"Familiar by Thy Side" explores William's origin story before he sought out Agatha, living the normal life of a Jewish boy, going through his bar mitzvah, and trying to take the next step with his boyfriend before Billy's visions overwhelm him, setting him on his path to undo Wanda's spell on Agatha. As we find out about more of William and Billy's past, he also learns more about the sigil that keeps him in check and Agatha's past as we get a glimpse at the hundreds of years she's lived, including being the subject of Parton's song, "Jolene."

"In the MCU, hell yeah," Schaeffer admitted to The Wrap with a laugh. "So, one of the ways that I like to work is, I really enjoy — I give my writers homework. And the way that I do that is I give them a big assignment, like 'What's the engine of Episode 3,' huge assignment. And then I give them what I consider to be a smaller, kind of amuse-bouche, more fun assignment. And there was a day where the assignment was, 'Give me five low-level, nefarious things that Agatha has done in her deep past.'"

As far as who was behind that song reference, "That was a Laura Donney idea. And it was one of, I remember being one of the most fun days in the room, was everybody coming in with their sort of low-level Agatha nasties. And that was Laura Donney. She was like, 'She's Jolene.' And we were just like, everybody fell out. It was so funny." Aside from being Parton's infamous Jolene, we also find out Agatha was a survivor of The Titanic and The Hindenburg, the 20th century's most famous transport disasters. "Jolene" follows a story of a rivalry and affair with the subject, complimenting her beauty and ambition but pleading with her not to take her man. Parton has yet to respond about Schaeffer's cheeky reference. For more, including breaking down Billy's journey, you can check out the complete interview. Agatha All Along streams Wednesdays on Disney+.

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