Much has been speculated about the newly announced Sabrina the Teenage Witch spinoff from the CW’s Riverdale. However, given that it was going to be based off the recent Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Robert Hack horror comic, it seemed like a stretch for the strictly PG-13 network. Enter Netflix, which has order two-season, 20-episode run of the show.
Why exactly the change over happened is unknown, and no one has released a statement explaining it so far. It does seem peculiar to have Netflix order such a large amount of content from an untested show. Perhaps they have bought into Aguirre-Sacasa’s vision, who will direct and write the new show on top of showrunning for Riverdale. Or it may be due to the boost in views the CW got from putting Riverdale on Netflix.
No word yet as to an official release date. The original plan was to aim for the 2018-2019 season, but now the timeline has radically changed. The seasons will be shot back to back, going from February to June for season 1, then June to October for season 2. There is also no word on casting yet, but given their tight schedule for shooting, we will likely hear more about that soon.
Could this potentially open up a whole TV-universe the way the Marvel-Netflix series did? Only time, and ratings, will tell.
