Last month, paperwork was filed by Disney to create a new limited liability production entity titled “Oakhaven Productions LLC.” At the time of discovery, we at Murphy’s Multiverse were prettyy stumped about what potential production this might be but today’s announcement that Marvel Studios is developing an Agatha Harnkess-centric series around star Kathryn Hahn may not only have solved that problem, but also give some clues as to what the series might end up being about.
At the time of discovery, our Google searches for Oakhaven produced little with any relevance to Marvel Studios, but did turn up what we thought was a funny coincidence: a Scooby-Doo reference. In 1998’s Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost, Scooby and the gang end up in the fictional town of Oakhaven, Massachusetts where all sorts of witch-related madness ensues. Oakhaven essentially serves as an analogue for Salem as Puritan-founded city where witches are persecuted. The dots aren’t too hard to connect here as Agatha Harnkness is not only a witch but one who, in the comics, was persecuted by Puritans in Salem before moving West and settling in the hidden Colorado town of New Salem.
While the plot of the new Disney Plus series hasn’t been revealed at this point, we know that Agatha was persecuted by her own coven of witches in Salem in 1693. We don’t catch up with her again until 2023 (or so), meaning we have about 330 years of potential stories to be told about where Agatha has been since stripping the power from her coven in 1693 and showing up in Westview in 2023. We can glean from WandaVision that she’s been set up in New Jersey for a while, but it’s possible her own series could shed some light on other places she’s been, potentially opening up the door for New Salem, and its interesting residents, to make their way into the MCU.
Foremost among those interesting residents is Agatha’s comic book son, Nicholas Scratch. Scratch was referenced as somewhat of an Easter egg in WandaVision, with Harnkness’ pet bunny sharing the name, but in the comics he was a powerful warlock in his own right who had less than a loving relationship with his mother. Marvel Studios has proven to love their family dramas and a mother-son drama might just be next on the list! With 330 years of time to fill, writer Jac Schaeffer could have a ton of fun introducing New Salem, Nicholas Scratch and some of its other colorful inhabitants while expanding on Agatha’s story and the mystical side of the MCU.
