Agatha All Along casts a spell with impressive Week 1 viewership

Marvel Studios' latest foray into the world of streaming television has seen the return of a character that was a big part of its very first Disney Plus TV series. Agatha All Along brings back Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness, a.k.a. Agnes, Wanda Maximoff's friendly next door neighbor who was secretly a centuries old witch plotting to steal her magic. Yes, that Agatha Harkness.

The series takes place three years after WandaVision as Agatha begins to claw her life back after waking up from the Scarlet Witch's spell (that forced her to remain in Westview playing the fictional character of Agnes). This has led to her assembling a new coven of her own and walking the Witches' Road in a bid to reclaim her magic. They are a dysfunctional bunch, which has made them all fan-favorites for audiences watching. And then there is the mysterious Teen, played by Heartstopper's Joe Locke, who is at the center of the season's biggest questions.

Clearly, those questions are captivating enough for fans to want answers, as the show's initial viewership has been released - and it's pretty darn impressive.

Agatha All Along opens to a bewitching 9.3 million viewers

Disney has released initial viewership data for Agatha All Along's premiere episodes, and it's higher than some might have expected. According to the studio, the first episode drew 9.3 million viewers across its first seven days of release, indicating an extremely promising start for the show.

As reported by Deadline, the streamer divides the episode's total stream time by the runtime to get that number (like Netflix and other streaming services), which is the same metric it used for previous shows such as Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Acolyte, and Marvel's own Loki season 2.

Prior to the show's debut, many weren't sure what to expect from this one's performance. It's been a tricky few years for Marvel Studios as it has had to balance its cinematic dominance with its recent venture onto streaming, and that has seen a number of projects struggle both in terms of quality and performance. While hopes were high for Agatha, some wondered if it would be too niche to draw a larger audience, especially at a time when the Marvel Cinematic Universe's drawing power has been in question.

There is also the comparison to Star Wars series The Acolyte. A fan-favorite series that drew 11 million viewers in its first week of release, it was ultimately cancelled by Disney Plus due to an unexpectedly sharp decline in viewership over the course of its run. There are a number of reasons for that, including what some fans felt was a decline in quality and others refusing to give it a chance because it wasn't what they were expecting it to be.

But Agatha All Along is a different case altogether. First of all, audiences knew exactly what to expect from this one due to all of the promotional material that was released in the past few months: A campy, Gothic over-the-top horror comedy about witches. And that's exactly what they got from the premiere episodes.

It's also worth remembering that Agatha All Along is based on a much lesser-known Marvel character than many of the previous Disney Plus shows. The mainstream audience's only knowledge of the character came from WandaVision and that came out three years ago. So it would have been ridiculous to compare this one to the likes of Loki - a well-established and beloved MCU character who starred in multiple movies - or even The Acolyte given that Star Wars' live-action shows are known for telling new stories (The Mandalorian). It was also likely much cheaper to produce given its reliance on practical effects and established sets.

Even so, expectations for the series were lowered when it came to viewership, especially after the way that The Acolyte had been treated by certain subsections of the Star Wars and pop-culture fandoms. But the positive word-of-mouth that it received, both from initial critic reactions and the inevitable fan appreciation, clearly made its mark.

No, Agatha's viewership isn't on par with Loki or a Star Wars show, but it was never expected that it would be given the character isn't as well-known to general audiences as those two. But these initial ratings indicate a much bigger interest in the show than its critics claimed there would be. So, by all rights, the show exceeded expectations.

A generally strong start to the series' run but a welcome overperformance for Agatha All Along.