Marvel's Agatha All Along creator reveals why episode 3's surprise death had to happen: "If you remove death it becomes inauthentic"

Warning – the following features spoilers for episode 3 of Agatha All Along.

Well – the third episode of new MCU show Agatha All Along was full of surprises. However, arguably the most shocking moment of them all is the death of Debra Jo Rupp's character Sharon Davis, a.k.a. Mrs. Hart – one of Agatha Harkness' Westview neighbors who was brought along on their Witches' Road travels.

The distracted makeshift coven fail to give Sharon the antidote in time during the first trial on their journey, resulting in her death. And even though this is Marvel, where more than often it seems that characters never really die, Mrs. Davis has indeed bitten the dust. There's no coming back this time!

Speaking to GamesRadar+ and the Inside Total Film podcast, the show's creator Jac Schaeffer reflected on this crucial scene, that ends the episode titled 'Through Many Miles of Tricks and Trials' on a jaw-dropping note. 

As she explains, Sharon's death was vital to help ensure that the show had stakes. However, Schaeffer also reveals that it was actually a last minute decision which came after the scripts were written – and one that also proved to be divisive.

She tells us: "It was a big question – do characters die in the show? We went around and around, it was a decision that we made quite late. The scripts were all written, we were even cast, we weren't shooting yet but I usually like to have the answers to those questions earlier. But it was dicey. What does it do to the audience? Do we do this?

"The answer was yes because we wanted the show to have teeth. This is a show about a character who is classified as a villain. Also, there is something about witchcraft that if you remove death, those bigger stakes like that, it becomes soft, toothless, and inauthentic. So yeah, we kill someone."

Following Sharon's death Agatha has the perfect response asking the rest of the coven "who is Sharon?" – after all, she kept using the incorrect name of Mrs. Hart. For Schaeffer, this one-liner is actually one of her favorite moments from the whole of Agatha All Along. As she concludes: "That's one of my favorite moments in the whole show!"

New episodes of Agatha All Along drop weekly on Disney Plus – to stay up to date, check out our Agatha All Along release schedule and you can read our thoughts on the series with our Agatha All Along review.

And for more from the world of the MCU, check out our guides to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows, as well as how to watch the Marvel movies in order.