While The CW is keeping Archie Andrews and the rest of the Riverdale bunch busy, their fellow comic book youth Sabrina the Teenage Witch is getting set to cast a spell on Netflix subscribers. The still untitled supernatural drama has added to its cast, with the always wonderful Doctor Who fave Michelle Gomez joining up-and-comer Chance Perdomo for a pair of very interesting roles in Season 1.
The hour-long series, based on Archie Comics' Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, offers up a darker and more sinister origin story for Sabrina's bewitching family. Mad Men vet Kiernan Shipka will star as Sabrina, whose relationship with Michelle Gomez's Mary Wardell goes through a big change. Ms. Wardell is Sabrina's favorite Baxter High teacher and serves as a mentor to the power-laden and morally conflicted student. But when Wardell gets possessed by Madam Satan, the Devil's handmaiden (obviously), a more sensual Ms. Wardell attempts to influence and manipulate Sabrina in far different ways to lead her down the Path of Night and away from the brighter world of humans. I can hear the saxophones and wah-wah pedals now.
Doctor Who fans may very well see signs of Michelle Gomez's Missy in her new Netflix role. Throughout her run on the iconic sci-fi series, Gomez portrayed a cunning, intelligent and determined villain similar to The Master's other incarnations. And considering the Sabrina series will deal in horrific situations, we might just expect Gomez's possessed educator to also share Missy's psychopathic tendencies and her deadly actions.
Beyond Doctor Who, which she may or may not be done with, Michelle Gomez is also known to TV viewers here and abroad for her work on the excellent hospital comedy Green Wing and Bad Education. Here in the U.S., she most recently appeared as villain The Lady on Gotham.
Chance Perdomo, whose credits include short films and brief TV appearances, will play Ambrose Spellman, Sabrina's English cousin...who also happens to be a warlock. According to Variety, Ambrose is put under house arrest by the Witches Council, which means he's not allowed to leave the funeral home he lives in along with the Spellman women. We can expect to see Sabrina and Ambrose getting into trouble together, and his pansexuality could lead to some paranormally arousing romances.
It's not clear just yet when audiences will get to see Sabrina's personality struggles hitting Netflix, but hopefully creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa gets this project together in time for a 2018 release. In the meantime, head to our 2018 Netflix schedule and our midseason premiere schedule to see what new and returning shows are popping up soon.
