How Netflix brought back two ‘90s stars for a ‘Sabrina’ crossover
Warning: This contains spoilers from the final season of “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.”
For one last magic trick, the powers that be at Netflix have conjured an episode of “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.”
The fourth and final season of “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” features a nostalgic crossover event: The penultimate episode of the teen fantasy series guest stars Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea, who played aunts Zelda and Hilda, respectively, in the ‘90s sitcom “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” starring Melissa Joan Hart.
It’s the first time showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s dark adaptation of the Archie Comics saga has directly acknowledged the existence of its lighter, 20th-century sister series — and the result is an absolute scream in more ways than one.
“People who like both the shows will enjoy seeing that come together,” said Lucy Davis, who was already a fan of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” before portraying Hilda in Netflix’s iteration. “I was trying to keep it cool, so that I didn’t sound like a buffoon, but I was really excited to do this.”
The episode, titled “The Endless,” picks up immediately after Sabrina Spellman’s clone — Sabrina Morningstar, aka the Queen of Hell (both played by Kiernan Shipka) — is sent to a parallel universe to spare the town of Greendale apocalyptic chaos. After a brief, cosmic journey through her bedroom mirror, Sabrina arrives at an exact copy of the Spellman residence — well, almost exact.
Essentially, Sabrina lands on the set of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” — referred to simply as the “show” throughout the episode.
“Sabrina, is that you?” Aunt Zel-da says. “There you are. Where were you? We were getting worried.”
In a normal episode of the Netflix series, the line would be read with gusto by “Lord of the Rings” alum Miranda Otto. But this is not a normal episode.
“Sorry, who are you?” asks Sabrina — and any viewers born after 1990, probably.
Enter Broderick and Rhea, reprising the beloved characters they originated on ABC in 1996. What ensues is a quirky, horror-comedy adventure full of wry meta-commentary on the entertainment industry and campy callbacks to “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.”
No one was more enthused to welcome Broderick and Rhea to “Chilling Adventures” than Davis, who had been corresponding with her ‘90s counterpart since Rhea congratulated her on her casting in 2018. When they finally met in person ahead of the table read, the two Hildas “gave each other a huge hug.”
“If I’m honest, it felt like I’ve known her for a long time,” Davis said of her pen pal-turned-castmate. “And then I met Beth in the table read as well, who is so graceful and charming and lovely.”
Though they don’t spend much time together on camera, Davis and Otto bonded with their predecessors behind the scenes by giving them a tour of the “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” sets at Martini Film Studios, near Vancouver, Canada.
While discussing their respective “Sabrina” series, the four actresses were joined by Aguirre-Sacasa, who “kept saying, ‘My mind is being blown right now that I’m standing in front of you guys,’” Davis recalled.
To commemorate the historic occasion, Broderick, Rhea, Otto and Davis posed for a photo on the grand Spellman staircase.
“It just sums up our characters and that we’re well-suited for them because the two Zeldas are sitting properly, looking at the camera as they’ve been told to do,” Davis said. “And then the two Hildas are looking at each other,” immersed in candid conversation.
In “The Endless,” the sitcom aunties inform Sabrina — and consequently, the audience — they are “the stars of a hit TV show.” In this universe, their mystical mansion is merely a set on a soundstage, Salem the cat is a talking puppet, and according to Broderick’s Zelda, “The only magic we do is what’s in our scripts.”
Shipka’s Sabrina is understandably stunned. She’s had zero time to watch TV while fending off menacing monsters and sinister spells with her mighty Spellman powers — all of which are very real back in the other Greendale. (“OK, first of all, the last show you were on sounds amazing,” Rhea’s Hilda tells her. We see you, Netflix.)