Well, well, this is an interesting bit of news...
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The streaming giant has handed out a sizable two-season, 20-episode straight-to-series order for an untitled Sabrina drama based on the Archie Comics graphic novel The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, picking up the intended Riverdale companion series from The CW.
Sabrina was put in development at younger-skewing broadcaster The CW in September. A casting search to play the reimagined teenage witch began almost immediately. Sources note that The CW and producers Warner Bros. Television had a list of actresses they eyed for the role. That is being revisited given the large commitment and move to Netflix.
Sabrina 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.
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Sources say the Sabrina order is for two, 10-episode seasons that would shoot back to back with the first batch filming from February to June and second from June to October. The writers room opens Monday. A premiere date has not been determined and it's unclear how the 20 episodes will be divided in terms of rollout.
That Netflix would invest so heavily in Sabrina should come as little surprise. The streaming giant has SVOD rights to Riverdale, the noir teen drama about Archie (K.J. Apa), Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Veronica (Camila Mendes), and began streaming all 13 episodes of the first season after their run on The CW. Riverdale — which was originally developed for Fox before moving to The CW — became a summer breakout for Netflix, which in turn helped to boost the sophomore season of the show in the fall. Riverdale's Oct. 11 season two debut grew a whopping 60 percent from its midseason series debut nine months prior, adding to the evidence of the impact SVOD deals have on linear viewership.
Now I'm picturing something along the lines of
The Vampires Diaries, but with Netflix-level nudity and violence. And if they cast eye candy on the same level as
Riverdale...