Kiernan Shipka, best known for playing the surly (and awesome) Sally Draper on Mad Men, has been cast as Sabrina Spellman, aka Sabrina the Teenage Witch, in Netflix’s untitled show (developed under the title The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) based on the Archie Comics graphic novel.
Deadline reports that showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who heads the popular Riverdale series, said of the star’s inclusion: “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. 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.”
So don’t expect a standard ’90s revision of the ABC series starring Melissa Joan-Hart — though we will be seriously sad if the Netflix show doesn’t include Sabrina’s snarky talking cat Salem in some form or another. The character of Sabrina almost made her return in the popular CW series Riverdale, named after the fictional town where Archie and the gang live. But baby goths everywhere are rejoicing that everyone’s favorite teen magic-maker gets to have her own moment in the spotlight.