Riverdale was one of the more pleasant surprises of the previous TV season, subverting the presumed innocence of small towns and teens with plenty of quips and syrup. The CW is now hoping to spin some more angst-ridden, young-adult magic with a spin-off about Sabrina The Teenage Witch. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Archie Comics’ chief creative officer who’s also behind the Riverdale adaptation, has looked out at the four to five thousand Archie Comics characters and selected the witchy teen for her own hourlong drama.
The series is being adapted from the Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina, from writer Aguirre-Sacasa and artist Robert Hack. Aguirre-Sacasa will also write for the new series, and executive produce along with fellow Riverdale EPs Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Jon Goldwater. Riverdale director Lee Toland Krieger is also executive producing, and will direct the Sabrina pilot. The new Sabrina series will be a “dark drama/horror project” in the vein of Rosemary’s Baby, a more twisted path that Aguirre-Sacasa alluded to when The A.V. Club spoke to him back in January. And in February, the showrunner said Sabrina would probably drop by Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe at some point.
Sabrina The Teenage Witch has gotten the TV treatment before, with Melissa Joan Hart starring as the titular teen witch in a sitcom that ran on ABC from 1996-2000 before heading to the WB for three more seasons. So, in a sense, it’s like Sabrina’s coming (to her second) home.