A sitcom from the 1990s is having a deserved resurgence on streaming, but it got a darker adaptation on Netflix seven years ago. Streaming platforms offer a wide variety of TV shows, many of them old shows that spark nostalgia. It’s not surprising, then, that many of them go through a resurgence at some point.
A TV show from the 1990s that is now going through a resurgence on Paramount+ is Sabrina the Teenage Witch, created by Nell Scovell. The show was based on the character Sabrina Spellman from Archie Comics, and it followed Sabrina (Melissa Joan Hart), who, on her 16th birthday, learned that she, along with her aunts Hilda (Caroline Rhea) and Zelda (Beth Broderick), were witches.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch ran for seven seasons, ending in 2003 after following Sabrina through high school and college, with a heartwarming twist in its final episode. 29 years after its release, Sabrina the Teenage Witch is now climbing up the worldwide Top 10 of Paramount+, and it’s the perfect time to remember its darker Netflix adaptation.
Sabrina Spellman Got A Darker Adaptation In Netflix’s Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Ran From 2018 To 2020
15 years after the ending of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Sabrina Spellman was brought back, but with a dark twist. In 2018, Netflix released Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, a supernatural horror TV show starring Kiernan Shipka as Sabrina Spellman.
Set in the fictional town of Greendale, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina followed Sabrina as she tried to integrate both sides of her: her mortal side and her witch side. In order to remain in the mortal world with her friends and her boyfriend, Harvey (Ross Lynch), Sabrina had to attend the Academy of the Unseen Arts, where she faced some disturbing threats.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ran for two seasons, each one divided into two parts, ending in 2020. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina had a strong start, with a 91% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, but this number went down in the following parts. Still, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is a different look at the famous witch, especially after the lighter approach of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
How Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina Is Different From Sabrina The Teenage Witch
Same Character, Completely Different Tones
The most obvious difference between Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is their tone. The former was more comedy-oriented, with Salem the talking cat delivering some of the show’s best jokes, and it was a lot more lighthearted. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, on the other hand, embraced the horror and fantasy parts of the character and her family.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina had Sabrina, Hilda, Zelda, and the rest of its witch characters practicing witchcraft, while Sabrina the Teenage Witch only had them using magic. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina also covered darker and more serious topics, such as feminism, generational trauma, satanism, good and evil, many of these through Sabrina’s personal journey.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch, on the other hand, was more focused on Sabrina’s personal relationships with her aunts, friends, and Harvey, as well as her school life, and with more relatable situations than its darker version. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina brought together both of Sabrina’s worlds more clearly and deeply, while The Teenage Witch mostly kept them separate.
A key difference between both shows, and one that was initially called out by fans of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, was Salem. In the first show, Salem talked (a lot) because he was a witch who was sentenced to live as a cat for 100 years after plotting to take over the world. In Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Salem was Sabrina’s familiar and he didn’t talk.
Other big differences between Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina are that the latter introduced Ambrose Spellman (Chance Perdomo), Sabrina’s cousin from England, who was under house arrest by the Witches Council. In Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Sabrina only had her aunts, and in this version, Sabrina wasn’t aware she was a witch until she turned 16.
In Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Sabrina had always known she was a witch and had been practicing witchcraft for years, but on her 16th birthday, she was supposed to have her dark baptism. These versions of Sabrina are very different, but that’s what makes them so entertaining and worth watching.
Sabrina The Teenage Witch Got Three Forgotten Animated Spinoffs
Sabrina The Teenage Witch Continued After Its Ending
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is unrelated to Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but the latter has some lesser-known expansions. During the airing of the main show’s fourth season, the animated spinoff Sabrina: The Animated Series debuted on ABC. The show starred a 12-year-old Sabrina (voiced by Hart’s younger sister, Emily Hart) as she attended middle school.
In this version, Sabrina was aware of her magical abilities, and so Hilda, Zelda, and Salem did their best to guide her through the use of magic. The Animated Series had a similar sense of humor to its main show, and it had a movie and a sequel series, titled Sabrina’s Secret Life.
The sequel show followed a now 14-year-old Sabrina through similar problems at home and school as in the previous show. Sabrina the Teenage Witch’s animated shows are lesser-known and aren’t a continuation of the main show, so its best complement is definitely Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
