Warning: This article contains spoilers from Agatha all the time Episode 5, “Darkest Hour / Wake Thy Power.”

Not even a full 12 hours after Marvel released the fifth episode of Agatha all the time Joe Locke looks euphoric on Disney+. It's almost as if the fear of keeping a big secret for more than two years is simply no longer there. “It's so beautiful. I feel like I'm breathing. I love it,” says the actor Weekly entertainment As he exhaled deeply, he sat on the couch of his British home in front of bay windows overlooking the street. However, the night before was a different story.

With the release of the episode in question, “Darkest Hour/Wake Thy Power,” came the long-awaited revelation that “Teen,” the mysterious character Locke plays in the series alongside Kathryn Hahn's Agatha Harkness, is not your average goth kid. to gain magical powers by joining a coven on Witch Street. In reality, he is Billy, the adult son of Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch and the superteen known as Wicca in the Marvel comics. Young Julian Hilliard played little Billy WandaVision.

The big reveal came in the final seconds of Wednesday's episode when he revealed his magic, sending Agatha, Patti Lupone's divination witch Lilia Calderu and Sasheer Zamata's potions expert Jennifer Hale into a pit of sinking mud after the show's titular anti-hero killed a member of their group had killed group, Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn) – the jury is still out on whether it was a coincidence. In the final shot, Locke looked directly into the camera, wearing a Scarlet Witch-style blue crown on his head, to the strains of Billie Eilish's “You Should See Me in a Crown” – a moment Locke describes as “perfect.” , after seeing him on an early screener in June.

It's a historic moment for Marvel storytelling, as Billy is the most prominent LGBTQ+ character the cinematic universe has introduced to date. Locke is well aware of this inclusion. He took four doses of melatonin to sleep the night of the big reveal. “I’m in the UK. The episode ends at 2:00 am,” he says. “I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep so I'm just going to drug myself and then wake up because my phone breaks, which is what happened.” Admittedly nervous at the moment, he added: “The thing I I kept it so secret and protected it with my life, is now just in the ether.”

Marvel fans suspected early on that Locke would be playing Billy/Wiccan, partly because there is a severe lack of gay comic book characters who have any connection to Agatha, and partly because certain leaks from production seemed to prove the theory true. There were also hints within the series itself as the first few episodes began streaming. Locke points out one such Easter egg: the image of Wanda's crown is embroidered on Billy's sweater, although the actor admits it's on the back, so the audience may not have seen it.

Showrunner Jac Schaeffer knew about the theory chatter permeating the internet from day one, and told her actor that the shock wouldn't be the revelation of Billy himself. “You can do the most unsurprising thing in the most surprising way, and that's how you captivate the audience,” notes Locke.

Now that the audience is captivated, “the show starts to get real,” he continues. “The show starts with Billy being very familiar and secondary compared to all the witches. Now we know he's a witch too, and that changes things. Plus, we now know he has the ability to harm them. That’s why.”, he is now the most powerful person on the street. What does this change in the dynamic of the group and how does this change the future of these relationships?”

Sign in Weekly entertainmentis the free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive previews, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars and more.

The rest of the nine-episode season is Locke's favorite material, particularly this week's episode 6, which explores Billy's true motivations for being on the road in the first place (note: it's not about gaining power, as he said) and his own backstory. A new midseason trailer for Agatha all the time (published after this article was originally published) teases this backstory.

Billy mentioned that a lot happened to him at the age of 13, and the footage shows a glimpse of Billy Kaplan, born to Jeff and Rebecca Kaplan of Eastview, in a car accident during the events of WandaVision. This is our strongest clue yet to how Hilliard's younger Billy Maximoff disappeared when Wanda lifted the curse on Westview, but can now stand before us all grown up on Witch Street.

Episode 7, Locke also notes, “is the best episode of the series based solely on Jac Schaeffer's incredible form and storytelling.”

“We talked a lot about playing with the gray area,” he remembers as he explained the character’s path with Schaeffer. “At the end of Episode 5, we don’t know what happens to these witches, but he doesn’t do anything good. We played with it a lot, does that make him a bad person? Is he a good person? What happens then.” There are parallels to the maternal figures in his life, but Agatha is not necessarily evil, but there is more to it. We know he lied to her, and we often play Is the fanboy teenager façade completely fake or is that actually still a real part of him?

Locke was not well versed in the Billy of Marvel comics, as Billy Kaplan was born as a reincarnation of one of Wanda's two children that she created with magic. But when he booked the job, Marvel's gatekeepers gave him access to the comic book story, in which Billy becomes a formidable wizard as a member of the Young Avengers, a team of younger superheroes. Locke shows the cover of the huge paperback collection on his Zoom screen Young Avengerswith works of art from Children's Crusadeone of the most popular comics with Billy. Locke makes this clear Agatha all the time does not follow the blueprint of this narrative – or any particular comic.

More enlightening for him was working with Jennifer White, the movement trainer, who helped Olsen formulate the hand gestures for Wanda's skills. “We worked to find similarities between Billy and Wanda in the way they use their magic,” Locke says. “Comic book fans know that Billy's powers are similar to Wanda's, with a few differences. So we wanted to find similarities to that, but also his own finesse.” For example, Billy's big moment when he threw Lilia and Jen off Witch Street was intended to mimic one of Wanda's arm gestures Avengers: Age of Ultron. “The script said, 'With a familiar-looking hand gesture, Teen sweeps Agatha off the street,'” he recalls.

Locke says he hasn't met Olsen in his acting travels, but in the back of his mind he's thinking about what the future might hold for him and Billy beyond Agatha all the time. For example, the MCU appears to be setting up the Young Avengers' debut for 2023, according to a post-credits scene The miracles.

“In my ideal world, Billy would become the next leader of the Avengers and star in every Marvel thing, but there are higher things at play too,” Locke says. “I had the most amazing experience filming Agatha and being a part of the Marvel family and I would happily do that until I die. But who knows? I don't. I'm sure someone does.

This article has been updated with the release of a midseason trailer for Agatha all the time.