‘Wandavision’s’ Kathryn Hahn Discusses Surviving “Sitcom Boot Camp” and Making Marvel Magic

WandaVision is the most unexpected Marvel property to ever pop into existence, in pretty much every way. A superhero sitcom, one that hops from decade to decade? Starring two superheroes who’ve always played backup to the A-listers? A love story between a woman and her dead robot boyfriend? A Marvel project that’s more beholden to period-appropriate comedy styles than any published comic book? Absolutely no one saw WandaVision coming, not after the thoroughly grim we left Wanda and Vision in the final moments of 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War.

Of all the surprises, perhaps the most delightful of all is the casting of Kathryn Hahn as nosy neighbor Agnes. We toss around the word “icon” way too much, but it’s hard to think of another word to describe how comedy fans view Hahn. There’s her Emmy-nominated work in Transparent, the cult favorite I Love Dick, her titular role in HBO’s Mrs. Fletcher, and her dramatic turn in last year’s I Know This Much Is True. Through all these roles, Hahn has established herself as a kind of comedy chameleon; she can truly do it all, but every role is powered by that trademark, boundless Hahn energy.

But as surprising as Hahn’s involvement was, it makes perfect sense in light of two of Hahn’s most beloved roles. There’s her previous Marvel role providing the maniacal voice to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s Doc Ock, an unexpected and inspired choice made by Sony. And then there’s her recurring role on Parks and Recreation, a modern sitcom triumph that can stand alongside every show referenced on WandaVision. It really was her turn as the cutthroat and no-nonsense campaign manager Jennifer Barkley that forever cemented Hahn as—there’s no other word for it—an icon.

And now Hahn’s bringing her dynamic, captivating presence to WandaVision in a role that has the whole fandom talking. Who is Agnes? While we didn’t uncover the truth behind Hahn’s mystery character in our chat, we did learn a lot about her time in sitcom boot camp and hear her tell her own Marvel Studios origin story.

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Decider: Kathryn Hahn and Marvel is the team-up we never knew we wanted, and now we need it. How did you get involved in WandaVision?

Kathryn Hahn: Believe me, I never would have would have seen this coming either, Brett. This is a real plot twist in the story of my career. I love watching these movies with my kids. It just looked like so much fun. I love the actors, the amazing talent that [Marvel Studios president] Kevin [Feige] and the rest of the MCU always seems to attract. It just looked like it would be such a blast. And I went in for a general [meeting], just to meet everybody. And you know, sometimes you just never hear anything again. There was no expectation whatsoever. And then I think it was like two days later, I got a a call to meet with Matt Shakman, the director, an incredible director and Jac [Schaeffer], the writer, and [producer] Mary Livanos. They kind of pitched me the whole arc of this series and I was like, I mean, I’m in. There couldn’t have been a more delicious way into this world for me. I mean, if I could have dreamt something up in the MCU to be a part of—like, this exceeded my wildest dreams.

Just in terms of a concept, if you removed all the Marvel-ness from it, it’s still a sitcom that is about the relationship of mental health with the comfort we find from sitcoms, as well as the journey that the art form has taken over the decades. This is the kind of show you would do even if it wasn’t part of the biggest franchise around.

Absolutely. That’s exactly it. I mean, even if the MCU had nothing to do with it, this is something that would be such a turn on for me creatively, and all of those ways. The authenticity and precision and the insight that we get when we go into each of those styles, comedy-wise—there was something so refreshing about the lack of cynicism inside of it. There’s something so—you know, gender roles aside—there was something so refreshing about it, because it turns out I’m a real cynic comedy-wise. I really like it a little bit anarchic. And there was something so refreshing about having to play it so purely, that was really such a challenge and so fun. And to know it’s not just a trick of doing that, that there’s something roiling underneath at all times. It was just a blast.

Are there any classic comedic actors from those eras that you looked to to inform Agnes?

Oh, I mean, so many, you know, for The Dick Van Dyke Show it was Millie. I mean, there’s a neighbor in all of those. Gladys [from Bewitched]. There are so many of them. You could go down the line and you just see that this trope is just there. It’s just so well-trodden by such incredible performers. Ethel [from I Love Lucy], Lenny and Squiggy [from Laverne and Shirley]. There are so many people that are all of a sudden in your lead character’s house and you don’t really know anything about their history, no one ever follows them home, but they are always kind of around. I just loved it.

There’s an energy that you bring to it, specifically, that I’ve been describing to my co-workers as like—you’re kind of like the Beyoncé of sitcom performers in that when you show up, you know you’re about to watch a professional’s professional. When you were live on set in front of an audience for the first episode, did it feel that way? Did you feel that confidence that we see onscreen?

I mean, first of all, I’m still stuck on being in the same sentence as Beyoncé, which is incredible. You know, in watching and studying those old sitcoms, especially coming from a loosey-goosey, kind of a little bit of an improv-y world, the actual precision, the craft, and the timing—there’s so much rehearsal in order for it to appear as effortless and easy and relaxed as it does. Dick Van Dyke was like, no joke, he was a craftsman. There’s such precision behind the ease that you just forget—these people, like, tossing off these things and those gags and those bits takes so much precision. So yeah, there were some sweaty rehearsals, I’m not gonna lie to you. It’s just new muscles. They’re just muscles that we just don’t work. And so it was a real, real fun challenge to find.

I imagine you’ve done a couple multi-cam sitcoms in the 21st century?

I have, but none of them have gone to series.

What was the difference in doing those and doing this one for WandaVision? I know modern multi-cam sitcoms have a couple days of rehearsal, on your feet—did you get the same amount of practice for this?

Yeah, absolutely, if not more. I know Matt [Shakman] describes it as our “sitcom boot camp,” and it was exactly that, where we were able to watch a bunch of episodes together and kind of break them down, episode by episode, just kind of break down the formula to see what stuck out to us. Matt Shakman, our director, comes from the theater, and we really did rehearse—especially that first one, [which was filmed] in front of the live audience. We rehearsed it like a play. I mean, we really rehearsed it like a play. Oh, and then we had our dress rehearsal like, I mean, we really did the whole thing. I would say most of that is us literally running behind the sets to get to our next cue, someone shoving props at us, Lizzie doing a quick change. All this stuff, it was really like putting on a play. So that’s also why this felt so incredible. To even put this in the same category as an MCU joint… I really did, especially after that first episode, feel like we had just put on this weird 1950s play. Like a few people saw that and won’t tell anybody about it. That’s what it really felt like. It’s just so crazy to know that that’s what we got to do, that that’s what this world allows.

You’ve spent the last 10 years being a part of so many different kinds of comedies, including iconic ones like Parks and Recreation. And now you’re doing this classic sitcom with Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany who are coming from having to do all these Marvel movies and a lot of drama. What was it like watching them discover that they’re hilarious?

He’s amazing. I mean, talk about Dick Van Dyke, he’s amazing and a natural. He is, I mean, he is hilarious in person anyway like, just hilarious. Lizzie is so good and she’s such an incredible performer, I think. They, I mean, pardon my French, but they work their asses off. But, turns out it also just came very naturally to them. I think because they’re such good actors it just came very quickly, like their sense of timing and their sense of pacing and holding for laughs and all that stuff. They just innately had all that in them. I was like, blown away.

WandaVision premieres on Disney+ on Friday, January 15

Stream WandaVision on Disney+