Sabrina the teenage witch is coming to Netflix. The supernatural Riverdale spin-off was in development at The CW but has been given a two-season, 20-episode straight-to-series order by the streaming service, which is trying to fast track the show for release in 2019. The two seasons will reportedly shoot back to back from February to October of next year, and a search is currently underway for the titular witch. The show’s writers’ room reportedly opens on Monday.
The as-yet-unnamed Sabrina show was inspired by the Archie Comics graphic novel The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina and, according to The Hollywood Reporter,
“reimagines the origin and adventures of Sabrina the Teenage Witch as a dark coming-of-age tale that traffics in horror, the occult and witchcraft. It’s described as in the vein of Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist and finds Sabrina wrestling to reconcile her dual nature as a half-witch, half-mortal while fighting 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, wrote the script for the pilot and is co-executive producing alongside a number of people, including Greg Berlanti.
As THR points out, Netflix knows the clout Riverdale has. The service has streaming rights for the show, and put all 13 episodes of its first season up right after it concluded. So many people watched the show on Netflix over the summer that the show’s second season premiere earlier this fall drew a 60 percent increase in viewership from its series premiere just nine months earlier.