October is truly Sabrina’s month as the cast and showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa attended New York Comic-Con to bring the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina to excited fans. Based on the comic book series from Archie comics, the Netflix show tells the coming of age story of Sabrina Spellman, a half-witch half-mortal young woman (Kiernan Shipka), who must choose on her sixteenth birthday between the magical world of her family and the ordinary human one of her friends.
During their press conference, Aguirre-Sacasa (who also helms Riverdale) talks about how there is a strong genre element on both shows with Riverdale having crime, pulp, and noir while Sabrina has horror. The latter is a lot darker but also in some ways more innocent. The showrunner also told press that in his mind the two series are in the same universe and there is a possibility of a crossover in the future. This obviously needs to happen.
When asked about her character’s coming of age narrative, Shipka said, “It’s really amazing to play a character who is coming into her own and finding her strength. As a character, as a person, I find Sabrina to be extremely brave, extremely selfless. She is so kick ass and cool I would want to be friends with her in real life in a heartbeat. I would want to get lunch with her and she could teach me a few things. Still at the same time she’s got so much to learn and that’s why it’s so much fun to play her because she’s equal parts human and witch and that’s an interesting route to go down. And just playing around with that duality and making her a complex person, just as she figures things out as she goes in these kind of crazy situations, it’s so fun.”
We also learned about Michelle Gomez’s audition as she plays both high school teacher Mary Wardell and the villainous Madam Satan. The actress came in to read with her hair neatly in a bun with glasses on then quickly took off the frames and undid her hair to portray the antagonistic character.
To see the entire press conference, watch the video below.
At their New York Comic-Con panel, the pilot episode was screened and it definitely delivers the chills and thrills. Sabrina evokes a sense of foreboding as the heroine must soon decide what world she wants to live in but is determined to do things on her terms. The show’s tone is a dark comedy yet addresses a lot of relevant and important issues such as bullying. While the satanic witch/warlock aspects are a large part of the series, it’s balanced out by the relationships that Sabrina has with her family and friends. We also got to see Salem and fans will be surprised to see how the furry feline is portrayed. If the rest of the episodes are anything like the first one, Netflix has a solid show on their hands and I am looking forward to binge watching the whole thing come October 26.
Series synopsis:
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, starring Kiernan Shipka, imagines the origin and adventures of Sabrina the Teenage Witch as a dark coming-of-age story that traffics in horror, the occult and, of course, witchcraft. Tonally in the vein of Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist, this adaptation 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. Riverdale showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who also serves as chief creative officer of Archie Comics, penned the script for the series. Aguirre-Sacasa executive produces alongside Riverdale collaborators Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, Archie Comics CEO Jon Goldwater and Lee Toland Krieger. The drama hails from Warner Bros. Television-based Berlanti Productions.
