Sabrina the Teenage Witch starring Melissa Joan Hart was a cheesy teen sitcom about a girl trying to juggle high school whilst hiding the fact that she's a witch. Sabrina Spellman was just an average girl who spent much of her time trying to fix her problems with magic. The whole series had an uplifting tone and bright atmosphere that taught important life lessons through Sabrina's use of her magic. It ran from 1996 to 2003, ending after seven seasons.
The series was based on the comic of the same name which featured the half-witch Sabrina Spellman living in the town of Greendale. Created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, the character made her debut appearance in the Archie Comic, Archie's Madhouse #22 in 1962, and was eventually given her own series in 1983, Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Much like the television adaptation, the comic was light-hearted and featured Sabrina secretly using her powers to help people. However, the once bubbly witch has now become a figure in YA horror in the more recent series, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
The Netflix adaptation, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, is a much darker take on Sabrina Spellman and is a straight-up horror series. Sabrina is now the daughter of Lucifer and her abilities are more akin to that of a demonic force. The dark take on the character didn't just come out of nowhere though; Sabrina's dive into horror started in 2013 with the Archie Comic, Afterlife with Archie, a 12-issue series that put the citizens of Riverdale in a zombie apocalypse, an event started by Sabrina no less. She appeared in only two issues, but they made an impression.
She first appears in Issue #1 at the very start of the story when Jughead asks her to bring his beloved dog, Hot Dog, back to life. When she does, Hot Dog turns into a zombie and bites Jughead, who then starts spreading the contagion. These actions have Sabrina banished to the Nether-Realm where she remains until Issue #6 when it's revealed that she has been taken to an institute where she is tied up as a sacrifice and offered to the Lovecraftian monster, Cthulhu, to be his bride.
Sabrina also made a brief appearance in another horror-themed comic titled Archie vs. Predator, where she is murdered by the Predator alien while attempting to perform a spell that would defeat it.
The positive reception to Afterlife with Archie is what got Sabrina her own solo series to be published under the Archie Horror name, an imprint of Archie Comics that created similar spin-offs such as Jughead: The Hunger, Vampironica and Blossoms 666. The series was called Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and was developed by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa as a reimagining of Sabrina's origins.
The television adaptation of Chilling Adventures was brought on by the success of Riverdale which premiered on the CW in 2017. Based on the adventures of Archie Andrews, the popular CW show offered a darker take on the characters, filling the town of Riverdale with murder mysteries, cults and deadly secrets. The CW wanted to expand Riverdale into a shared universe that would've included Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. It was meant to be the first companion series to Riverdale that would have eventually featured a crossover, but by the time it was in development, it had to be moved to Netflix where it premiered on October 26, 2018.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Part 4 stars Kiernan Shipka as Sabrina Spellman, Ross Lynch as Harvey Kinkle, Michelle Gomez as Mary Wardwell/Madam Satan, Jaz Sinclair as Rosalind Walker, Lachlan Watson as Theo Putnam, Gavin Leatherwood as Nicholas Scratch, Tati Gabrielle as Prudence Blackwood, Chance Perdomo as Ambrose Spellman, Lucy Davis as Hilda Spellman, Richard Coyle as Faustus Blackwood and Miranda Otto as Zelda Spellman. The entire season is streaming now on Netflix.