Is Agatha Harkness gay? A queer guide to Agatha All Along

Is Agatha Harkness gay, lesbian, or queer?

Fans are more curious than ever to find out whether or not Agatha Harkness is gay after watching the fourth episode of Agatha All Along and identifying a very queer-coded storyline between the titular character and Rio.

The short answer is no, Agatha Harkness is not gay if we look back at her comic book history. It's also still unclear if the character is gay based what we did and didn't see on Agatha All Along so far — even if the queer subtext of Agatha (particularly in interactions with Rio) is as clear as day to the girls, gays, and theys.

And yet, we can't deny that Agatha All Along keeps hinting that she might be an actual queer character. So let's take a second to zoom out and objectively assess everything we've seen so far.

Are Agatha Harkness and Rio Vidal former lovers?

Since the very first interaction between Agatha and Rio that we get on Agatha All Along, the queer vibes are already all there. "To any queer person watching, it seemed as though they were exes," Autostraddle's Valerie Anne writes, "though they never explicitly said as much."

In episode 4, Rio joins the coven on the Witches' Road, and we once again get her vibes with Agatha. One scene, for instance, shows Agatha and Rio having a moment alone in a recoding booth. They start talking about going on "one more adventure" together. "Like old times?" Rio asks, placing her hand on Agatha's thigh. Agatha replies, "Work and play."

This scene could be interpreted as two exes flirting with each other. However, that is clearly not Agatha's mindset in this interaction. Here, Agatha is trying to make Rio feel comfortable and at ease so that she can pin the plan of "killing all the other witches" on Rio. Agatha doesn't waste much time before turning on the microphone in the recording booth and making sure that all the other witches listen to Rio "confessing" to this plan of murdering them.

Another standout scene in the fourth episode depicts Agatha and Rio discussing their visible and invisible "scars." Again, this could be interpreted as two exes throwing shade at each other while recalling a hurtful breakup, and Rio even says "she is my scar" in reference to Agatha.

The two of them then go for a walk in the woods. As they find themselves alone, Agatha puts her hands on Rio's face, and they both instinctively go in for the kiss… except that all this romantic longing and sexual tension between them does not build up to an actual kiss.

The vibes are there. The longing is there. The tension is there. The subtext is there. However, in typical MCU fashion, all of this could also mean absolutely nothing, as we've seen so many times before. Even that potential kiss could be easily straight-washed as Agatha just trying to flirt with Rio to get her way.

What has the 'Agatha All Along' showrunner said about Agatha Harkness' sexuality?

Agatha All Along showrunner Jac Schaeffer recently told Entertainment Weekly that she sees Agatha as being a "drag queen" and a "performer more than anything else." Schaeffer elaborated:

"She is constantly wearing masks. She's constantly putting on identities. So I would say that, in terms of our intention, the people that I was lucky enough to assemble on the show, both behind the camera and in front of the camera, [there were] so many members of the community, so many people motivated to tell these stories and to infuse the show with joyous, dark, resplendent queer energy. I am thrilled. I feel honored. It is my deepest hope that it is embraced as the love letter that it is."

This quote from the Agatha All Along creator ultimately describes Agatha Harkness as a sort of shapeshifter who can code-switch and put on different personas at any given time. There's obviously something queer about those powers and skills, but it doesn't literally mean that the actual character is queer.

Broadly speaking, Schaeffer said that the DNA of the series "embraces so much of what many LGBTQ+ audiences came to love: camp, musicals, queer icon Patti LuPone, and horror."

She added, "In our research into the history of witches, contemporary witches, witches in pop culture, there is a very strong intersection between the LGBTQ+ community and witchcraft."

Is Agatha Harkness gay in the Marvel comic books?

All of us who identify as queer Agatha truthers get a "yeah, that's gonna be a no from me, dawg" from the character's history in Marvel Comics, too.

Agatha Harkness — first introduced in the Fantastic Four #94 comics from 1969 — has rarely been seen with a love interest, Screen Rant's Kai Young writes, adding:

"The existence of Nicholas Scratch, Agatha Harkness' powerful and villainous son, confirms that, at some point, the witch has been embroiled in an affair of the heart." However, little is known about Scratch's other parent, who could have been a love interest for Agatha.

In the comics, we barely get to know the person that supposedly had a child with Agatha Harkness… so, yeah, she's not exactly a character known for love stories and/or sexual orientations.

Here's our verdict.

We're deeply invested in the potential of Agatha Harkness being a queer character, and for Agatha All Along to deliver on the promise that it's the MCU's gayest show ever.

The show does keep suggesting that Agatha could be queer, but nothing tangible has been seen thus far. The casting of out queer actors like Joe Locke and Sasheer Zamata, as well as queer icon Patti LuPone, also make us feel like there's something in the works here. The Agatha All Along showrunner has also been extremely receptive to and encouraging of this big queer interest in the series.

But before jumping to the conclusion that Agatha Harkness is gay, we'd love to actually hear something like Loki addressing his bisexuality/pansexuality in his Disney+ series — and even that felt like a "ridiculous, craven, feeble gesture" to people like Russell T Davies (Doctor Who). We'd also love to see a kiss between Agatha and Rio, or a montage that makes the nature of their relationship very clear and beyond any further questioning.

For the time being, though, we'll keep patiently waiting.

Agatha All Along is streaming new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.