I Need to Know Everything About Aubrey Plaza’s Hot Witch in 'Agatha All Along'
Spoilers below.
In the new Marvel series Agatha All Along, fan-favorite witch Agatha Harkness is free from the hex Wanda Maximoff, aka Scarlet Witch, placed on her, but she finds herself without powers. And with many people seeking revenge against Agatha, she must regain her abilities in order to survive. A mysterious teenager convinces her to walk the Witches’ Road, which is said to grant your deepest desires—if you can make it out alive. The other problem? You need a coven to enter it.
Cue Rio Vidal, an antagonistic witch with a long history and vendetta against Agatha.
In the show’s premiere episode, she appears as a federal agent in Agatha’s “Agnes of Westview” illusion. Rio initially seems like an ally to Agatha as she attempts to get Agatha out of Wanda’s spell multiple times, but she ends up attacking Agatha when she finally wakes up from her spell. The two fight brutally, but they remember that they are not allowed to kill each other due to “witches’ rules.” The powerless Agatha negotiates with Rio to wait until Agatha can reclaim her powers for a fair fight.
“Not like this,” Agatha tells Rio. “Don’t you want me at my best?”
Here’s what we know about the deadly witch:
Rio Vidal is portrayed by Aubrey Plaza.
When Aubrey Plaza was first announced as a dark witch in Agatha All Along, I thought, “That makes sense.” It was the same feeling for the actress who has dabbled in the dark arts, telling WSJ Magazine, “What’s better than playing in the witch-witchy worlds of witches?”
Plaza, who previously starred in NBC’s Parks and Rec and HBO’s The White Lotus, isn’t new to the Marvel Universe. In FX’s Legion, which was also based on Marvel comics, she played Lenny Busker, a human whose body was taken over by a mutant parasite. It was a very different role for Plaza. She told KINO.de, “Agatha had a very practical approach to all the effects. The aesthetics of the show was really different. Legion was a little bit more traditionally Marvel-esque. There were a lot of amazing sets as well, but more special effects and things like that. But [Agatha All Along] is a little bit more practical. It was more tangible. It felt like we were really immersed in this world that we got to touch and see. I think on that level, it was really different.”
Rio Vidal is a new character in the MCU.
While the other witches in Agatha’s coven are based on Marvel comic book characters, Rio Vidal is an entirely new character developed for the series. But, many have speculated she is based on several magical beings in Marvel comics:
Emerald Warlock Dian was a Green Warlock who battled Agatha and Wanda on the Witches’ Road during the 2015 Scarlet Witch comic series #4. His powers rival Wanda and Agatha’s in power absorption, telekinesis, and power bestowal. Although he does not display earthly magic, he is immortal and wears and emits green, but that seems to be the only thing he and Riothey have in common.
Gaea, a.k.a. Mother Earth, is a goddess who was one of the first beings to emerge from the darkness onto Earth (similar to how Rio emerges from the ground in the trailer). She is powerful and can form into a humanoid, matching those who see her. She can heal others and control nature and other witchy things that Agatha can do. It also makes sense when Agatha reveals that she cannot absorb Rio’sGaea’s energy blast because it would kill her. Gaea is a gGod, which means her power would be too much for any witch to consume. Gaea is also connected to the mMultiverse as the sister of Chthon, a God who once possessed the Darkhold.
Although Morgan le Fay has appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Hulu’s Runaways, it would make sense if another alternate version of her isbe part of Agatha’s story. As one of the most powerful sorceresses in the comics, Morgan once had the Darkhold in her possession and has a close connection with Doctor Strange and the Fantastic Four. Her powers include (but aren’t limited to) manipulating Earth’s natural environment, casting illusions, shape-shifting, and healing capabilities. Not to mention, she also dons green clothing.
During the premiere episode, Rio tells Agatha she has a “black heart,” which is represented by a black heart symbol from Lilia Calderu’s premonition. There is a character named Blackheart, the son of the demon Mephisto, who has the power of dark energy and can alter physical form. Like Gaea, Agatha couldn’t absorb Rio’s powers if she were a demon. It would also lead to a real connection with Mephisto—finally.
Rio is a Green Witch.
Green Witches are exactly what you expect when you hear the term—they can yield earthly magic. So far, we know that Rio possesses the abilities of nature, healing, and immortality. She displayed some of those abilities during her fight with Agatha, using air elements to blast her over the counter and healing the knife wound on Agatha’s hand (by licking it!?).
Plaza described her character as a warrior witch, telling Disney in a promo video, “I will say that my character is very powerful and mysterious and has almost a shape-shifting quality, where you kind of never know what version you’re going to get. So I was really excited about the challenge of that and getting to play a character that's playing by [her] own rules.”
Though there have been conversations surrounding the character’s origins, Plaza tells Total Film Magazine, “I did research some stuff in the comics that was very helpful. The Green Witch is about nature. The Green Witch is about life and death and all kinds of things. But am I the Green Witch? I don’t know. There’s more to those characters than meets the eye, that’s all I can say.”
Rio Shares a long and complicated history with Agatha.
If the premiere episode was any indication of their relationship, we can confirm that Rio and Agatha don’t get along. Their chemistry was insanely strong and almost alluring as they knew how to push each other’s buttons and calm each other down. Plaza says in the Disney production notes, “It’s really fun to play because the characters know each other so well that they know how to get to each other, but they also know that fate is bigger than them and destiny must happen no matter what they want.”
It does seem like Agatha did Rio dirty to prompt such an intense response to find her in Westview. But what exactly happened between Agatha and Rio? Could it be fighting over power…or a lovers’ quarrel?
Rio and Agatha might have been lovers.
Throughout the press tour, Plaza and Hahn have been dropping subtle hints about Rio and Agatha being more than just enemies. Plaza mentioned during the Agatha All Along press conference to expect a very intense and dynamic relationship between the two, “one that has all the colors of the rainbow. They should be scared and excited and raise the bar really high.”
On the Agatha All Along red carpet, the cast all praised how “queer” the series is. “It better be because that’s what I signed up for,” Plaza told Variety. “100 percent. I can’t tell you how. It will be a gay explosion by the end of it.”
You Might Also Like
