Say hello to your new Sabrina Spellman!
Netflix announced this afternoon that “Mad Men” alum Kiernan Shipka has landed the coveted role in the new “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” series based on the Archie Comics graphic novel The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
In the series, Sabrina is an empowered young woman, half-human, half-witch, who is just beginning her dark education as a sorceress, even as she tries to maintain a normal life as a sophomore at Baxter High. Intelligent, compassionate and brave to the point of recklessness, Sabrina is all that stands between us and the forces of darkness that threaten our world.
Shipka’s name has been on many dream casting lists alongside Dove Cameron, Sabrina Carpenter & Selena Gomez since the show was announced but ultimately it was Shipka who impressed the team behind the show. “We’re all such huge fans of Kiernan’s work that when we started talking about who this new incarnation of Sabrina could be, her name was on everyone’s wish list.” said executive producer and Archie Comics Chief Creative Officer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. “This is a darker, more macabre version of Sabrina, and we’re incredibly excited for people to see Kiernan make this iconic character her own.”
The new one-hour drama comes with a twenty episode order and will be written by Archie Comics Chief Creative Officer and RIVERDALE Showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, directed by Lee Toland Krieger, and produced by Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Brothers Studios. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schecter, Jon Goldwater, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Lee Toland Krieger serve as executive producers.
Shipka is the first cast member to be announced but the character descriptions for the other main characters have arrived on the web including that of Sabrina’s boyfriend Harvey who actually comes from a line of witch hunters. We’re sure that will prove to cause some drama on the show.
HILDA SPELLMAN: Female, late 30s to early 40s, All Ethnicities. Hilda is the kinder of the Spellman sisters who are raising Sabrina, though her nurturing nature belies a more ruthless side. She is a healer, a potion-maker, sweet-as-pie until you cross her or anyone she leaves. Operating the local funeral home, the sisters hide their witchery from the world while teaching Sabrina spells and incantations at home…ASP SERIES REGULAR
ZELDA SPELLMAN: Female, late 30s to early 40s, All Ethnicities. Zelda is the harsher of the Spellman sisters who helped raise Sabrina, though her sternness and tough facade might be hiding a more…mothering soul. Unlike Hilda, Zelda claims that she has never known love—her devotion to the Dark Lord is all-consuming—which is why people looking for a love-potion go to Hilda; those looking to make a spite-jar go to Zelda…ASP SERIES REGULAR
AMBROSE SPELLMAN: Male, early 20s, African American or East Indian, British. Ambrose is Sabrina’s “cousin” and a necromancer. He is witty, puckish, pan-sexual—and loves being a witch. Trapped in the funeral home due to a binding spell, Ambrose lives in the mortuary’s attic and acts as one of Sabrina’s partners in crime…10/13 SERIES REGULAR
HARVEY: Male, Legal 18 or 18+ to play high school, All Ethnicities. Sabrina’s boyfriend, the Prince Charming of this dark fairy tale. Harvey is a young man in a small town starting to figure out his place in the larger world. He is politically minded, idiosyncratic, attractive, charismatic, and fun. Handsome and romantic, Harvey’s also smart, woke, and compassionate. In the present-day, he is part of Greendale’s counter-culture youth. He has no idea that he is descendant from a long line of witchhunters…ASP SERIES REGULAR
ROSALIND: Female, legal 18 or 18+ to play 16, African American. Rosalind is Sabrina’s human best friend. Brash, empowered, and outspoken like her Black Panther parents, Rosalind is keeping a secret from Sabrina and the rest of her classmates—that she is not-so-slowly losing her eyesight, a fact that will put her immortal soul in jeopardy…10/13 SERIES REGULAR
What do you think of the casting of Sabrina? Who would you cast in the other roles?
