Back in September, we passed on word that the CW was looking to expand its Archieverse of shows by adding a horror-tinged reboot of Sabrina The Teenage Witch to the schedule. Well, that show is still happening, but it’s made a bit of a switch: Netflix has just picked it up for a two season order.
The series will follow Sabrina, a young woman living with her aunts, both witches. Unlike the Melissa Joan Hart sitcom, these are the horror-movie kind of witches, sacrificing animals to demons, cutting deals with the devil, and while Sabrina knows about the devil-worship and the magic, she doesn’t know the many, many family secrets her aunts are hiding from her. But, like all horror stories, there’s only so long you can keep ugly family history under wraps before it comes back to bite you, often literally, in this case.
This is probably due to Riverdale becoming a must-binge over the summer. That series — best described as what might happen if you gave James M. Cain and Douglas Sirk the job of making an Archie story — hooked a lot of people and got a big ratings bump for its second season. Netflix probably wants an Archie show of its very own, especially since the series will retain much of Riverdale‘s creative team, including showrunner and head writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (who also writes the comic this series will be based on) and executive producer Greg Berlanti. It’s not clear yet when we might see the show, but it’s moving quickly: They plan to begin shooting in February.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)