Joe Locke Teases Mischief and Magic in ‘Agatha All Along’

Joe Locke still remembers the first time he walked the Witches’ Road. The 20-year-old actor stars in Marvel Television’s Agatha All Along, and on one of his first days on set, he stepped on to a massive soundstage, transformed into a witchy, otherworldly forest. As he wandered through the swirling mist and past each carefully crafted tree, he remembers feeling a distinct sense of, well, magic.  

“I got all emotional because it was this huge, incredible set,” Locke recalled. “I remember turning to [series creator Jac Schaeffer], looking at her and smiling, and then just bursting out crying. I gave her a big hug.”

Locke had his fair share of magical moments on Agatha All Along. The actor stars in the Disney+ series as a mysterious goth Teen, who seeks out notorious witch Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn, reprising her role from WandaVision). Together, they assemble a ragtag coven and set out down the legendary Witches’ Road, a magical gauntlet of trials designed to test a witch’s power. 

Locke is no stranger to high-profile projects, catapulting to fame in 2022 for his role in the emotional TV series Heartstopper. But Agatha All Along is his biggest role yet, and he tells Marvel.com that he can’t wait for fans to meet his cryptic character Teen.

“It was a long, grueling audition process,” Locke admitted. “By the last one, I was like, ‘If I don’t get this now, I’m going to be genuinely heartbroken.’ I was so invested by that point. It’d been like six months and a lot of work. So, I was very happy to have got the part!”

“We cast a very wide net for this role, and it was always Joe,” Schaeffer explained. “The character required an amount of… I call it Joe’s ‘black hole energy.’  There’s all this sweetness and beauty, but he’s able to become like a black hole of energy. We have a lot of energy in this crew, and we really needed a singular performer to be able to hold that and counterbalance everything else. And we’re so grateful that Joe came to us.”

Much of Agatha All Along centers on the relationship between Teen and Agatha, following them as they bicker, banter, and brave the trials of the Road together. Off screen, Hahn and Locke became fast friends, making each other laugh in their very first chemistry read together.

 “We click as people, and we get each other’s humor,” Locke said. “It’s great fun when you trust someone as much as I trusted Kathryn and I hope she trusted me. Especially with the more intense scenes, you don’t have to worry about anything: I know I could scream in her face, and she’d love it rather than be mad at me. Or I accidentally spat on her when I was speaking, and it just added to the scene.”

“When I met him in the chemistry read, I saw something behind his eyes that was so deep and difficult to find,” Hahn added. “For being so young, he is such a soul. He’s such a profound presence. All the women in this, we feel so freaking protective of him and have from the beginning because so much has happened in his life in such a short period of time, and he’s still such a sweetheart.”

That bond was evident when Marvel.com sat down with the Agatha cast in August, after they took the stage at D23 2024 to perform “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road.” Costars Hahn, Ali Ahn, Patti LuPone, Aubrey Plaza, Sasheer Zamata, and Debra Jo Rupp all heaped praise on Locke, as the young actor blushed.

“We all adopted him!” Ahn said.

“It’s incredibly impressive to be that self-possessed at that age,” LuPone added. “But it was amazing to watch. To watch somebody negotiate show business, it’s not always easy.”

In fact, Locke may have taught his coven a few things, too.

“I do remember Patti being like, ‘I’m going to teach Joe how to be a diva!’” Zamata remembered with a laugh. “And then it was quickly like, ‘Actually I don’t have to do that. He’s got it.’”

Agatha All Along premieres on Disney+ on September 18 at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET.