Rarely has a performer been able to create an image as elusive, interesting, and slightly terrifying as Aubrey Plaza. The actress rose to fame in the seminal Amy Poehler comedy Parks and Recreation, with fans becoming intrigued by her purposefully drab approach to acting and unique brand of “emo punk” perfection. It’s a dark energy that Plaza continued in various roles, often serving as an uncannily funny punctuation to whatever film she’s a part of and bettering the plot through her effortless performances. She’s developed an infamous reputation through her works, which is why her casting in Marvel’s newest series, Agatha All Along, is so thrilling.
Created by Jac Schaeffer, this WandaVision spin-off sees Plaza as a member of the main character’s new coven. It’s been promoted as a horror series, making audiences wonder if this actress could turn a Marvel adaptation into something genuinely frightening — though, that actually already exists. Because long before Agatha All Along, another Marvel project touched on the darker aspects of this comic universe, bringing its scariest stories to life and making Plaza the epicenter of its superhuman terror. If you’re excited to see Plaza flex her ability to scare, but they only need to watch her performance as Lenny Busker in FX’s Legion to learn the actress can turn any story into a nonstop horror show.
Aubrey Plaza Lifts All the Projects She’s In
Long before Legion or Agatha All Along, Aubrey Plaza rocketed to fame for her starring role in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation as the moody intern April Ludgate. While the performer has certainly grown since this early role, April helped define Plaza’s entire career; she was dramatized as overly goth and moody, but the character’s ability to unnerve others while appearing effortlessly cool created a ghastly confidence that Plaza still embodies to this day. It’s an energy that helped her excel in dark-toned projects like Emily the Criminal and Black Bear, each entry showing her ability to embody complex concepts while still injecting plots with her unique brand of uncanny humor. It’s a humor that the actress has flexed in various other projects, from The White Lotus to The Little Hours, with Plaza always keeping audiences on their toes by taking on wildly different roles and refusing to be pigeonholed into the moody box that started her career.
The MCU has been transfixed with horror in recent years, with WandaVision (also created by Schaeffer) igniting the studio’s urge to scare audiences. This project focused on Wanda Maximoff’s (Elizabeth Olsen) superpowered grief and, along with offering numerous terrifying scenes, introduced audiences to the spellcaster Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn). It was exciting to hear that Harkness would be getting her own spin-off, but the MCU’s ability to land the horror elements was in doubt; WandaVision was a masterclass in fear, but other recent “scary” projects like Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness have faltered. While that nervousness is justified, Aubrey Plaza is a saving grace for any project hoping to imbue its stories of superheroes with unadulterated horror. Because, before Plaza was cast as the green witch Rio Vidal, she was the most disturbing part of Legion (created by Noah Hawley), the possessed monster Lenny Busker.
Before the MCU, Plaza Horrified in FX’s ‘Legion’
Legion focuses on the titular telepath, David Haller (Dan Stevens), who is suffering from the negative effects of his ultra-powerful psychic abilities and starts the show marooned in a psych ward. He struggles through each day trying to ignore the voices in his head — and the random bouts of superhuman abilities they seem to bring on — by messing around with his best friend, Plaza’s Lenny, a troubled woman who deeply cares for David. The actress does well in portraying the pair’s relationship, creating a believable bond between the two within the first episode and showing that beyond each one’s issues, all they want is for the other to be okay — which is what makes her gruesome death at the end of that first episode so jaw-dropping. Seeing Lenny’s body merged into a wall is sickening enough, but those who stick around after this gory pilot quickly learn that dead doesn’t always mean gone in the Marvel universe. And, once Lenny’s deceased spirit is hijacked by a malicious, telepathic parasite who’s been haunting David for decades, it’s obvious just how terrifying Plaza can really be.
This series epitomizes Plaza’s ability to take on any role with the wide array of haunting costumes and personalities “Lenny” takes on while psychologically torturing David. From a slick negotiator, to a wild-haired phantom, to one of the creepiest versions of the Mad Hatter ever, this being is constantly changing its appearance to keep David on edge, making the man wonder what horrific version of his former confidant will arrive next. It’s a change that goes beyond physicality (though Plaza nails this element each time), as Lenny’s monologues of how she plans to ruin David’s life create a resonant, deeply unnerving watch for all. These detailed explanations of how she plans to torture all of his loved ones and what a cesspool she’s always known him to be are scary enough, and they’re made only worse when she begins contorting and creeping toward him to remind the audience that her threats go far beyond just verbal evisceration. She takes the fantastical concepts that are the norms of most Marvel projects and twists them into a terrifying image of a bloodthirsty monster. This is done with a haunting sense of ease, making it clear that no matter what kind of horror she’s presented with, Plaza can portray it flawlessly.
Aubrey Plaza’s ‘Legion’ Experience Prepared Her for ‘Agatha All Along’
It’s unclear just what kind of route Agatha All Along’s creators will take for this series, and there’s a chance that the skills Plaza showed in Legion may be too much for this Disney+ program. The series rating is TV-14, and while that does mean it can explore some scary themes, it definitely doesn’t allow for the unadulterated kinds of fear that Plaza got to act out as Lenny. Yet her expertise in that series doesn’t only mean that she can be endlessly frightening, but something even more important: her fear is versatile.Legion showed that she can absolutely unnerve viewers, but with the character’s constant shifting among personas and appearances, it also clarifies just how great this actress is at altering her scares for different audiences. Whether it be outright slashing or creepily cute characters, Plaza brought out the best of each and ensured that everyone watching was always creeped by some aspect of her performance. Agatha All Along is shaping up to be one of Marvel’s most mind-bending stories, and with Aubrey Plaza bringing these terrifying talents to its main cast, it will almost certainly be the studio’s most terrifying project yet.
Legion is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
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