Kiernan Shipka Tapped As Lead For ‘Sabrina The Teenage Witch’ Reboot
‘Man Men’ and ‘Feud: Betty & Joan’ actress Kiernan Shipka has landed the lead role on Netflix’s ‘Sabrina The Teenage Witch‘ reboot it has been announced.
Based on the ‘Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina’ comic book, the show is a long way from the Sabrina series of the 90’s. This is a dark coming-of-age tale that traffics in horror, the occult and, of course, witchcraft, more in the vein of ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ or ‘The Exorcist.’ Sabrina must wrestle to reconcile her dual nature as a half-witch, half-mortal while fighting the evil forces that threaten her and her family.
Shipka is set to play the titular Sabrina Spellman, who is just beginning her dark education as a sorceress, even as she tries to maintain a normal life as a sophomore at Baxter High. Intelligent, compassionate and brave to the point of recklessness, Sabrina is all that stands between us and the forces of darkness that threaten our world.
“We’re all such huge fans of Kiernan’s work that when we started talking about who this new incarnation of Sabrina could be, her name was on everyone’s wish list,” says executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. “This is a darker, more macabre version of Sabrina, and we’re incredibly excited for people to see Kiernan make this iconic character her own.”
Shipka most recently appeared opposite Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange in the hit event series ‘Feud: Bette and Joan’, in which she played B.D., the strong-willed teenage daughter of Bette Davis (Sarandon). She is perhaps best known for playing the role of Sally Draper for seven seasons of the acclaimed Emmy®-winning drama series ‘Mad Men’, opposite Jon Hamm and January Jones.
The currently ‘Untitled Sabrina‘ project, was originally planned as a companion to ‘Riverdale’ for The CW, but ended up landing at Netflix instead. The show is being written by Archie Comics CCO, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who also wrote the ‘Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina’ comic book on which the series is based. Aguirre-Sacasa will exec produce along with director Lee Toland Krieger (‘Riverdale’, ‘Deadly Class’, ‘Life Sentence’), Riverdale/Arrowverse’s Greg Berlanti & Sarah Schechter for Berlanti Productions, and Jon Goldwater for Archie Comics.
The ‘Untitled Sabrina‘ series was picked up for 2×10 episode seasons and will arrive on Netflix UK either late 2018 or in 2019. We’ll let you know when we have an exact date.
