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Agatha All Along Reveals Surprise Connection to Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’

Agatha All Along Reveals Surprise Connection to Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’

The Marvel series Agatha All Along has answered a long-running musical mystery by revealing that Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” is in fact the witch Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn).

In the final episode, a series of news clippings explain Agatha’s origins by showing that she survived the Salem witch trials in 1692, the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and the Hindenberg disaster in 1937.

Another cut shows a black and white screenshot of a blonde woman slapping Agatha. It’s titled: “Does this 1972 surveillance photo of Dolly Parton show the real Jolene?”

In a new interview with The Wrap, Agatha All Along Showrunner Jac Schaeffer was asked to confirm if Agatha is indeed Jolene. “In the MCU, yes,” he replied.

Schaeffer went on to explain that the idea for the musical reference came from writer Laura Donney, after she was given the “fun task” in the writers’ room to come up with “five nefarious, low-level things that Agatha has done in its deep past”.

Schaeffer added, “And I remember it was one of the funniest days in the room, everybody came in with their kind of low-level Agatha nastiness. And this was Laura Donney, she was like, ‘It’s Jolene.’ And we were like everybody fell. It was so funny.”

Kathryn Hahn attending a premiere event for 'Agatha All Along'
Kathryn Hahn attending a premiere event for ‘Agatha All Along’ (EPA)

Parton’s song identifies Jolene only as a beauty “beyond compare” with “locks of brown hair.”

In 2022, The IndependentRobert Webb investigated the origins of Parton’s success. He discovered that Parton had once credited a young fan of her collaborator, Porter Waggoner, as her inspiration. “When I used to work with Porter, we’d sit on stage after a show and sign autographs,” Parton recalled. “One night, this red-haired girl with the most beautiful eyes and the most beautiful hair I had ever seen was looking at me. She was maybe 10 or 12.” Parton asked her name: it was Jolene.

Last month, Hahn shared a glimpse of how the opening scenes Agatha All Alonga spin-off of previous series WandaVisionit went so far as to include Marvel’s female first-person shooter.

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At the end of WandaVisionAgatha was trapped in containment, but at the opening of the first episode of Agatha All Alonghe wakes up back in the suburb where most of the original series took place.

She wanders the streets looking for answers about what’s going on – naked.

“I thought it was good to see her stripped down as literally as we could, which spoke to her powerlessness in the present moment,” Hahn said. variety

“(Agatha) has been stripped of all her power at this point in the series. I mean, she really didn’t have anything at that point, and so it was about illustrating that gap between that point and her return to find your power.”