Warning: This article contains spoilers fromWandaVisionepisode 8, “Previously On.”
WandaVisiondirector Matt Shakman has seen your memes and obsessive theories.
Why is"Agatha All Along"such a bop?
Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff and Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness in ‘WandaVision.'.Marvel Studios
And how on earth are they going to wrap this whole thing up with just one episode left?
“We share the various memes and stuff on TikTok among the cast and crew and writers.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: To start, we gotta talk about “Agatha All Along.”
Tell me everything about recording that song and filming it withKathryn Hahn.
MATT SHAKMAN:It was such a pleasure.
It’s a completely different language, which was more cinematic, more from her point of view.
We had a great deal of fun with it.
Maybe I will and I can pay for my retirement that way.
[Laughs] But we met a long time ago and collaborated then.
I adore him and his amazingly talented partner-in-crime, Kristen Anderson-Lopez.
One of the things that’s so striking about this show is how it plays with tone.
As a director, how did you want to find that sweet spot and figure out that tone?
The whole show has really been about Wanda processing grief.
That’s been the engine behind everything, from the earliest episodes all the way up until now.
The story is about how to process loss and how do we learn to move on from that?
That is the through-line that carries through everything.
In the end, you’re creating these worlds that Wanda has created to escape from that.
You want them to be perfect and detailed and real to her.
That was our sort of governing idea, and I think that affected tone.
What kind of conversations did you have with Elizabeth Olsen about navigating that?
She’s wonderful, and she’s been the biggest advocate for this character from the beginning.
She taps into that so beautifully, and she’s an incredibly talented actor.
She’s so funny and alive and brilliant at all of those different styles.
What was it about those shows in particular that made them the right fit for Wanda’s story?
We were looking at family sitcoms.
So the family sitcoms were the strongest thematic connection to that.
Were there any other sitcoms that you considered?
Did you ever consider doing more of an explicitFull Househomage, given Elizabeth Olsen’s connection to that show?
I mean, obviously we didn’t recreate any one show.
We were always trying to createWandaVision.
So we did look atFull House, we did look atFamily Ties, we did look atGrowing Pains.
We looked at so many different shows, and I have some small nods in there.
What was it like for you to immerse yourself in that decade?
The ’80s really was the decade for me, for the Lopezes, for Jac Schaeffer.
We grew up watching those shows, and I happened to grow up being on those shows!
But now in a way, this show has allowed me to own my past.
So in a way, it’s therapy for me too.
So we were there surrounded by this history of television all the time.
I have to ask about Evan Peters as Fake Pietro.
When did he get involved, and what was it like to have him on set?
He’s the best.
He’s such a funny guy and a brilliant actor.
And he’s just like everybody else on the show: We needed super actors.
I don’t mean actors that play superheroes, but actors who can do anything.
And Evan is just like that.
As we’re going into the final episode, what do you hope people take away from the finale?
I hope that they feel like the journey was satisfying for them.
The challenge as a director was unique.
I’ll never have a job like this again.
This was the job of a lifetime, to be able to draw on all of those different skillsets.
But what does hold it all together is that it has a big heart.
