With a little over a month until the premiere of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix, the cast and crew reveal a fan-favorite supporting character may not play a significant role in upcoming Archie Comics adaptation.
Salem, the teenage witch's faithful feline companion, and a steady source of comic relief on the original 1990s sitcom starring Melissa Joan-Hart as the eponymous sorceress, will not factor heavily into the revival series. Executive producer and showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has two very pertinent reasons for Salem's reduced role: Allergies and tone.
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"I get a call that says, ‘Kiernan [Shipka] is allergic to the cat,’" revealed Aguirre-Sacasa in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
With series star allergic to feline pet dander, Salem will a play minimal role in the streaming series. However, the showrunner also pointed out that the new adaptation's darker tone and increased emphasis on horror may have made a feline comedic character out of place with the rest of the show.
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"The idea was to do a dark horror version of Sabrina, something that was more of a slow-burn horror, like The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby and all those great satanic horror movies from the 1960s and 1970s," explained Aguirre-Sacasa.
Executive produced by Aguirre-Sacasa (Riverdale), Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, Archie Comics CEO Jon Goldwater, and Lee Toland Krieger, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina stars Kiernan Shipka, Miranda Otto, Lucy Davis, Ross Lynch, Michelle Gomez, Chance Perdomo, Jaz Sinclair, Richard Coyle, Tati Gabrielle, Adeline Rudolph, Abigail Cowen, Lachlan Watson, and Bronson Pinchot. The first season arrives on October 26 on Netflix.