‘Tangled’ Casts Its Villain, and It Was Agatha All Along

At first, Scarlett Johansson was in the mix. But, when it came to casting the villain of Tangled, of course, it had to be Agatha all along. Cue her music.

Multiple outlets are now reporting that Kathryn Hahn, star of Marvel Studios’ shows WandaVision and Agatha All Along, is in talks to play Mother Gothel in the live-action remake of Tangled. Finding the film’s villain was the next order of business after, earlier this week, Disney announced casting for its two leads, Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. They’ll be played by relative newcomers Teagan Croft and Milo Manheim. But, of course, Rapunzel doesn’t get stuck in that tower without the evil intentions of Gothel, so it’s a key role, and who better than Hahn, who already has all the witch cred in the world thanks to her Marvel role?

The Tangled remake has had a bit of a bumpy road to get to this point. (Like the Witch’s Road, perhaps? Cue another song.) In late 2024, Greatest Showman and Better Man director Michael Gracey was revealed to be developing the project. But, after Disney’s Snow White was released and failed to meet expectations, Tangled was put on hold. What happened in the months that followed? We don’t know. Six months later, though, news broke that Johansson was circling the Mother Gothel role, and the film was back on. Johansson ended up not taking the role, but her interest seemed to put things back in high gear. With Croft, Manheim, and now probably Hahn on board, it’s full steam ahead.

Disney hasn’t set a release date for Tangled, but we’d venture to guess the studio’s hoping to get it out maybe by summer or fall 2027. In the meantime, another Disney princess is making the jump from live action to animation. Moana hits theaters on July 10.

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