The CW's biggest successes over the past few years have come from comic TV shows, and its newest series is a bold reimagining of legendary Archie characters. Riverdale only just premiered in January, and the showrunner is already talking about bringing in another beloved character from Archie Comics canon: Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Head honcho Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa teased this about the possibility of Sabrina appearing on Riverdale:
We could [see her in Season 1]. As I say, never say never, but it's certainly within the realm of possibility.
Sabrina Spellman is best known nowadays as the teenage witch played by Melissa Joan Hart on the ABC sitcom, but the character actually made her witchy debut back in the 1960s as a supporting character in an Archie's Madhouse comic book, and she grew popular enough to score her own solo series in the 1970s. Although Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa was careful not to confirm or deny an appearance from Sabrina in Riverdale, it sounds like viewers could see a brand new version of the teenage witch on The CW in the not-too-distant future.
Of course, Riverdale is currently based in a reality that doesn't exactly feature supernatural creatures galore. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa believes that the Riverdale team would need to find a way to introduce Sabrina that doesn't necessarily involve magic. She can be a witch; she just can't usher in an era of witchcraft on the show. He went on in his chat with The Wrap to describe how he sees a Riverdale version of Sabrina, saying this:
As dark as Riverdale is, the vision for Sabrina is even darker. Riverdale is on one side of the Sweetwater River and Greendale, where Sabrina lives, is on the other. There's sort of that mythic idea that on one side of the river there's one reality and on the other side of the river there's another reality. So who knows? But yeah, there's definitely a universe where Sabrina pops up in Riverdale, or there's a version of Sabrina that exists in her own witchy bubble.
In most of her incarnations, Sabrina Spellman isn't an especially dark character. The comics were fun romps aimed at teens, and the TV adaptations haven't exactly been edgy. The only version of the character that got truly dark was the one from the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comic horror series, and that version is one that could fit right in with the murder and mystery of Riverdale. Maybe an appearance from Sabrina will be the first step toward a Riverdale spinoff, and The CW could have another comic-based universe in primetime. We'll have to wait and see whether the show can hold onto its ratings in the coming weeks.
You can catch new episodes of Riverdale on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW. Take a look at our midseason TV premiere schedule to see what else is available on the small screen.
