Sorry, Rio Vidal fans: Billy Maximoff is the “black heart” on Agatha All Along, not Agatha Harkness’s ex-girlfriend.
The news was confirmed by showrunner Jac Schaeffer in an interview with The Wrap going in-depth about this past week’s episode of the series. When asked directly about whether Billy was the “black heart” that’s been previously referenced, Schaeffer was pretty blunt. “Yeah, Billy’s the black heart,” she explained.
In case that means nothing to you, the popular fan theory goes that in the first episode of the Disney+ series, when Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza) attacks Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) and says that her heart is “black. And it beats for you,” that might be a reference to Blackheart the child of Mephisto in the comics. The show seemed to double down on that in the second episode when Lilia Calderu (Patti Lupone) created a list of witches for Agatha’s coven and noted herself, Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn), Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), and then a little black heart.
Agatha, for her part, panicked, seemingly knowing the symbol referred to Rio, and went and got Sharon Davis, aka Mrs. Hart (Debra Jo Rupp) instead… Only for Sharon to die on the Witches’ Road, and be replaced by Rio Vidal thanks to a summoning spell. So it seemed pretty certain that Rio was the black heart, and was destined to end up with the coven.
…That is until this week’s episode, “Familiar By Thy Side,” which finds Billy’s (Joe Locke) boyfriend Eddie (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) texting Billy “You are my heart” with a little black heart emoji. So yeah, Billy is the black heart. The reason there was a black heart symbol on Lilia’s list is that Lilia cast a Sigil on Billy to make all witches not know who he is, including herself. She put the symbol there because she was unable to discover his name.
So if Billy was meant to be part of the coven, and Rio wasn’t… What is she doing there? Schaeffer was pretty tight-lipped on that, saying, “First, I would say, you know, please see future episodes… To me, and the way that I consume content — it is now less about the sort of concrete answers of things, and more about, as we move forward, there will be more information and more fleshing out, both in terms of character and just a richness that will enhance interpretation, if that makes sense.”
Still how does this all work? On that point, Schaeffer essentially urged fans to just go with it.
“Witchcraft is not mathematical,” Schaeffer said. “Witchcraft is so much about intention. It is so elusive… I’ve been so delighted at how seriously fans are taking the rules, and the trials. And I would say to that, bravo and thank you. And also, witchcraft is murky, and witchcraft is imprecise.”
So there you go. No Blackheart, Rio isn’t the “black heart,” and all your theories are for nothing. UNLESS. But no, they’re nothing, sorry folks.
Agatha All Along Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
The first two episodes of Agatha All Along premiered September 18 at 6 pm PT / 9 pm ET on Disney+. It streams weekly, leading up to the two-episode finale on October 30. There are nine episodes, in total.
Here’s the full list of episodes in Agatha All Along, with premiere dates:
- Wednesday, September 18, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 1: “Seekest Thou The Road”
- Wednesday, September 18, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 2: “Circle Sewn With Fate Unlock They Hidden Gate”
- Wednesday, September 25, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 3: “Through Many Miles of Tricks and Trials”
- Wednesday, October 2, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 4: “If I Can’t Reach You Let My Song Teach You”
- Wednesday, October 9, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 5: “Darkest Hour, Wake Thy Power”
- Wednesday, October 16, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 6: “Familiar by Thy Side”
- Wednesday, October 23, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 7
- Wednesday, October 30, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 8
- Wednesday, October 30, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 9
Where To Watch Agatha All Along:
Listen to MarvelVision:
Discover more from Comic Book Club
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.