In the age of the reboot (revival, spinoff, sequel, etc.), it’s no surprise that The CW is bringing back “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.” But what is surprising is that our favorite T.G.I.F. ’90s gal, Melissa Joan Hart, isn’t a part of it.
Hart, who of course played Sabrina Spellman alongside her on-screen witchy aunts Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick in the original series, has heard about The CW’s plan to launch “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” as a companion show to the network’s hit “Riverdale.” She’s confident the show won’t be anything like the former version, which ran from 1996 to 2000 on ABC and from 2000 to 2003 on The WB.
“They’re doing ‘Sabrina’ without us,” Hart told HuffPost during a Build Series interview Wednesday, referencing her production company Hartbreak Films, which she runs with her mother, Paula Hart. “They’re doing like a teen soapy version, like a drama version. Ours was obviously a comedy. It was like a light comedy about magic. There is going to be more witchcraft [in the new one] ... [More like] ‘Charmed’ or ‘Buffy,’ maybe.”
The CW’s plan is to follow in the footsteps of their “Arrow”-“Flash” success and introduce Sabrina Spellman within the “Riverdale” world. This makes sense as Sabrina is a character from the Archie Comics.
“Sabrina was in one comic book a year during the ’60s and ’70s ― they had one issue at Halloween every year that was a ‘Sabrina’ Archie comic,” Paula said, with Melissa chiming in, “She was just sort of a little section in the comic book. There’d be a few pages on her.” (In actuality, the “Sabrina” comics ran for over 70 issues, and subsequent series clocked in at over 100, a source told HuffPost.)
According to Deadline, “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” “finds Sabrina wrestling to reconcile her dual nature — half-witch, half-mortal — while standing against the evil forces that threaten her, her family and the daylight world humans inhabit.” Tonally, it will resemble “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Exorcist,” and be much darker as it touches on horror and the occult.
So, less:
More:
Either way, Melissa isn’t involved in the project as of now, but if Luke Perry can be on “Riverdale,” MJH deserves this.
Watch Melissa Joan Hart and Paula Hart talk their new film, “The Watcher in the Woods,” below. The movie airs Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. on Lifetime.
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