Kathryn Hahn

Look, I don’t want to be a hipster about this, especially because I don’t remember the existence of Hickory Hideout, her actual first TV appearance. I might’ve watched it; it certainly aired on KNBC at a time when I was of an age to watch it. Even so she was only on a bare handful of episodes of the show, so if I did watch it, it was possible to miss her. And, yes, she did a movie called Flushed that I’d never even heard of before writing this where she’s twenty-third-billed and one of the only other people in it I’ve heard of is her husband—who’s billed higher than she is. But still.

Lily Lebowski was created for Kathryn Hahn. Other than those two things, it was her first onscreen credit. She started as the person working intake at the Boston Medical Examiner’s office. She was a sweet, somewhat flaky woman. She was something of a hippie, very into spirituality. At then she grew into the character, and the character in turn grew. She became a grief counselor. She dealt with her awful mother, played adeptly by Lesley Ann Warren in one of those roles that would’ve been talked about to this day had anyone much watched the show. Lily survived, and what’s more she made things better for the others.

And then the show was canceled, and frankly I was angry about the whole thing regardless of who in particular I was being angry about. We’re only barely touching the surface—too many male characters, not enough female ones, even on a show where the main character is female—and quite a few talented actors have gone on from that show to nothing much, really. I was always glad to see her when I did see her and a bit surprised as well. But mostly she did movies I wasn’t interested in and movies I never heard of and tiny bit parts I did manage to see. I saw Tomorrowland in the theatre and made an excited noise when she appeared.

As I’ve never actually watched Transparent, the first inkling I had that perhaps she was starting to be noticed by people who aren’t me was Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, where she was Doc Ock. Which was an inspired bit of casting. She’s a joy in it, the very bright and not very stable character she would go on to embody when the people at Marvel got their hands on her. It’s a brief role, but she’s memorable. And not just because she’s not at all what you expect to see from Doc Ock.

Agatha? Yes. Agatha. Agatha Harkness, who seems to know a bit more in the first few episodes of WandaVision than even Wanda does. The more we learn about her, the more we understand why. And then she’s simply magnificent in Agatha All Along. I can’t wait to see what’s next for Hahn, be it a character like Lily or a character like Agatha or a character like neither of them. She is an extraordinarily talented woman, and she even sings. I feel so smug to watch other people recognize her talents as well, even if I’m a little ashamed of myself for it at the same time.