Though it's hard to convince a child of the 90s of this, Sabrina the Teenage Witch has been around since the 1960s, starting off as a character in the Archie Comics and spinning off into her own TV series once in 1969, again in 1971, and one more time in 1996, when she was played by Melissa Joan Hart. That's the only version of the character I've ever known, and while she's technically a comics character who can be rebooted and remained in many ways, I'm having a hard time swallowing the latest idea that's cropped up at Deadline.
According to them, Sony is planning "an origin story in the vein of Spider-Man" for Sabrina, who will be coming to terms with her powers in a movie with an "edgier" tone. They'll still be keeping her talking black cat Salem, but this time he'll be "a transformed prince creating unique love stories for Sabrina." I'm just going to hope that it means the prince is setting up Sabrina with his prince friends and not that Sabrina will be falling for Salem, which is just gross. And while that all sounds mighty princessy, the people involved are definitely familiar with edgier stuff-- writers Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari wrote Die In A Gunfight, and producers Don Murphy and Susan Montford are veterans of Real Steel.
The story ends with a note that because of "the popularity of the brand," they'll probably be able to cast an unknown in the role-- so stop worrying about any "Miley Cyrus as Sabrina" rumors you might hear. And yet, I still can't imagine anyone but Melissa Joan Hart playing the part. No, that show wasn't a classic, but it was my generation, dammit, and I'm having a hard time letting it go. Of course, the people this is made for aren't of my generation at all, but probably kids born in 1996, so I'm not really sure what I have to be complaining about anyway.
