[This story contains spoilers from the third episode of Agatha All Along, “Through Many Miles / Of Tricks and Trials.”]
Former Saturday Night Live star Sasheer Zamata has entered a new realm of fandom with her role as Jennifer Kale on the newly launched Disney+ superhero dark comedy Agatha All Along.
“I think I’m ready,” Zamata told The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the series debut on Sept. 18. “I guess I won’t know until it happens, but I am excited because I think Marvel fans will love it. We’re really stepping into the magic side of Marvel and that’s really exciting and fun.”
The WandaVision spinoff finds Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha disingenuously reassembling a reluctant coven to regain her supernatural powers. Among them is Zamata’s character, a potions witch who runs an organic skincare apothecary of sorts when not dabbling in the occult. In episode three, “Through Many Miles / Of Tricks and Trials,” Jennifer saves the day — and almost all of the characters’ lives — when she conjures up an antidote after realizing they’ve been poisoned by a bottle of wine they drunk when they stopped by an unoccupied home along the Witch’s Road.
Like her prior roles in Home Economics, Woke and Last O.G., in which Zamata, who recently came out as a “late-in-life lesbian,” was cast as a queer woman before publicly sharing her sexual identity, the opportunity to portray Jen came just as the actress and comedian was exploring the history of witches for her latest standup special The First Woman. “It’s like the Venn diagram of all my interests is a perfect circle with this show,” says Zamata.
Below, the Marvel star talks about her experience filming Agatha All Along, from the singing scenes to wearing prosthetics, and the response to her coming out.
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How did this role come to you?
I was already researching witches for my stand-up — and I’m very into witch lore and history, but it was totally separate. I got asked to audition after I’d already filmed my special. I like all the things happening in the show: the magic, the witches, the Marvel of it all. It’s like the Venn diagram of all my interests is a perfect circle with this show. So I was hoping, and then I did get cast, and I remember emailing the producers and being like, “Did you know that you hired a witch? Could you tell?” And maybe they could, maybe it’s a vibe I’m giving off that I didn’t realize. But I’m so glad that they saw whatever they saw and decided to let me join the team.
Do you have a favorite witch series?
I do like Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It’s very fun and funny. Big Practical Magic fan, fan of The Craft. I loved American Horror Story: Coven. We’ve had some really great witches in the media. I’m glad this show is adding to it.
Had you already been a superhero fantasy fan? Did you watch WandaVision before getting cast?
I did. I’m a big fan of Marvel everything, and I did watch WandaVision. When I found out they were doing a spinoff based on witches I remember telling my reps, “I do need to be seen for this, like this is the WandaVision people.” The creator, Jac Schaeffer, is so smart and I really think she’s creating a whole different tone for Marvel; we’re able to do so many other things you haven’t seen before. I’m such a fan of all the action, and they’ve taken a lot of creative license with these characters. I’m excited for people to see the amount of emotion and depth we can really reach with these characters.
Who is Jennifer Kale in your words?
Jennifer Kale is a witch who is very guarded and needs to learn how to trust people, and keeps getting tested on that over and over again throughout the show. She’s a potions witch. She uses alchemy and chemistry and her environment to create magic, and I hope that can inspire people to use the resources in their lives to create their own magic and see a little bit of themselves in my character.
We’re used to seeing you in more straightforward comedies and sitcoms. This is more of a dark comedy. Did you feel like you got to showcase some abilities that maybe we haven’t seen before?
Absolutely. I do love doing comedy so much, but it was so nice to be asked to do more, and to be asked to do things that I have never been required to do in any other production. There are some really dramatic, raw elements of this show, and I got to flex my muscle a little bit and stretch my bounds. I’m excited for people to see me do something different than I’ve done before.
There are multiple singing scenes in this series. Are you all really singing?
We are really singing, yes, and it’s funny that we were not asked if we could sing before we started the show. Like that was not even a requirement. But, thankfully, we all can. Everyone has a theater background. So it all worked. And I love singing. I sang in my church choir when I was younger, and in show choirs and musicals. I’m really happy to be asked to bring that side out of me again. We sang at D23 live in front of 12,000 people at the Honda Center, and it was really crazy. But when we’re doing it as a group and we’re harmonizing, it just feels so fun and unifying, and I feel like we’re really summoning something.
I believe you had already cut your hair off before being cast. Was that always going to be your character’s look, or were there conversations about wigs and extensions?
There were conversations about wigs and extensions. And I think when the costume designer saw me in person, he was kind of like, I think this is good as is. Like, this is Jen. I’m happy to wear wigs and extensions; that’s also fun too. And even in this show, I’m going to have so many different looks that look different than my shaved head. But, I love looking like this. I love this version of me — and it’s so easy to just quickly shave my head and that is all we’re doing. But I think it’s nice for Jen to have a shaved head because her persona is very clean. Clean lines, simplicity, order, and I think a shaved head adds to that. That’s her personality.
In episode three, there’s a spell the coven comes under that makes everyone’s faces swell up. What was the experience of undergoing that transformation in the makeup chair?
I’ve done a little bit of prosthetic stuff for certain things, but this is the first time I had a full face of prosthetics. It was wild. And wild to look at everybody with their faces. We had many moments where we would just bust out laughing because we were like, “you look ridiculous, and I look ridiculous, and this is insane.” And to deliver lines with huge lips and noses all over our faces was really funny, but also really cool. The FX department is so talented. They planned out everyone’s look way in advance and then had to stand by and make sure that we were hydrated enough and moist enough for the rest of the day. It was quite a journey.
Was there a lot of greenscreen used during filming and did that take some getting used to?
We actually had very minimal greenscreen in this show. They really made a point to make everything practical. So what you see is what’s happening. When there’s water, it’s actually water. When there’s fire, there’s actually fire. They built the set of the road, and it really does feel like we’re walking through a forest. And it’s so cool. They use all these old-school Hollywood techniques to play with perspective and depth, and it was really cool to watch. And you can tell the scenic designers had so much fun doing this show and the effects people had so much fun doing this show because everyone got to use the tools that they’ve known for years and break them out on a show like this. I think there are so many productions that just do it in post, they just put a screen up [and say] “we’ll fix it in post and totally artificially create this thing,” and I think there’s value to using the artists on hand. There’s really talented people who know how to create physical things for us to touch and use and walk through and I’m so grateful to be on a show like that because it really does enhance our performance too.
It’s been several years since your 2017 story in Allure, where you talked about your experience with colorism and feeling like you were stigmatized for your skin tone in Hollywood. Have you seen improvement in the roles you’re now offered?
I do think there’s improvement in the diversity of people in front of the camera and behind the camera, because I feel like audiences are also craving that, which is so nice, and they’re very vocal about it. Viewership equals money and studios listen to wherever the money is. I’m so thankful that we are trending in that direction. And I hope it continues to go that way too, because I like to work.
In your recent profile in Them, you spoke about hoping people will respect your boundaries around your sexual identity. What has been the response to your coming out since the story was published?
It’s been so nice. It’s been so loving and welcoming. I feel really happy and I feel like that article was so supportive and careful with me and my words. I’m just really grateful. It couldn’t have happened in a better way. I have gotten some really funny responses of people being like, “Was she in?” (laughs) Like, “The door to this closet was glass. What are you talking about?” And they’re not wrong.
Agatha All Along releases new episodes Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET /6 p.m. PT on Disney+.
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