The final episode of “Agatha All Along” opens with one of the most shattering moments of the series. In flashback, Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha, heavily pregnant in the middle of the woods, goes into labor alone. Again and again, viewers have been told that Agatha is the most powerful witch around, but she’s still no match for Death herself, embodied by Aubrey Plaza’s wonderful wild card Rio. When Rio appears as Agatha is about to give birth, the latter knows immediately what it means; her son is fated to die in childbirth or be delivered stillborn, as was common in the 1700s.
Agatha is not having it, though, and she pleads with Death to spare her boy. She does for a time, but Nicolas “Nicky” Scratch (Abel Lysenko) dies later, meeting with Rio while his mother sleeps. It’s all incredibly heartbreaking, but Nicky’s story also left “Agatha All Along” fans with a lingering question: who was his father? Right away, some fans began to speculate that Rio herself sired Nicky, as Agatha called her “my love” when she was in the midst of birth. It’s not an airtight theory given the fact that Rio then left Agatha alone (which is a dick move, but not necessarily disqualifying in terms of her potential parentage). There’s no clear indication in the series that Rio “fathered” Nicky, but statements from both star Kathryn Hahn and showrunner Jac Schaeffer seem to support the theory.
The first hint that Agatha’s son may have been born of supernatural means actually came before the show’s finale aired, when Hahn told In Creative Company that the show’s female witches “didn’t need men.” As she put it, “Babies are born, there’s no men, males, mentioned. It’s this all women and queer group.” This sound bite inspired fans to wonder whether Rio could be Nicky’s other parent, and when it turned out that he’d been fated to die since birth, well, that sounds like something that would happen to the child of Death herself, right?
There’s more to Agatha and Rio’s story
Speaking with Variety, Schaeffer also addressed the topic of Nicky’s parentage. She remained vague about it, though, noting that while she didn’t “cover it in this property,” it could end up being a part of a Marvel story “for another day” that she “maybe [doesn’t] have control over.” When working with something as massive, collaborative, and arguably unstable as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it makes sense for Schaeffer to decline to put more lore out in the world if it may not become canon. However, she also said that the “Agatha All Along” writers had a lot of ideas about Rio and Agatha’s relationship, including plans for a “meet cute” over dead bodies.
“Then the room took it in a direction that then they lived together in a cottage, and we talked at length about it, to the point of, ‘Is Rio Nicky’s father?'” Schaeffer continued. “We went down those paths, and they were very gratifying to explore.” She added that there’s obviously “more story there,” but admitted that there was only so much room for flashbacks in Nicky’s story. Still, she insisted that “those discussions informed what you do see” of Rio and Agatha’s relationship. Basically, while it sounds like the identity of Nicky’s dad remains technically unwritten, Schaeffer more or less told Comic Book Movie that Rio was a consideration in the casting of the child actor who played Nicky.
“When we were casting sometimes we were like, ‘Does that kid look like Rio? Does that kid look like Aubrey Plaza?'” Schaeffer said, adding that “fans and viewers, yes, are picking up on our brainwaves for sure.” The show ultimately went down a more ambiguous route, even implying that Agatha may have conceived Nicky on her own with the especially lovely line “I made you from scratch.” Still, Schaeffer has hopes for the return of Agatha and Rio — and perhaps the continued fleshing out of their backstory. “It’s my hope that in the MCU there’s more unpacking of the Agatha and Rio backstory,” she added.
“Agatha All Along” is now streaming in its entirety on Disney+.
