What’s Everyone Up To in the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Holiday Special?
Den of Geek talked to the Sabrina cast about "A Midwinter's Tale," a very special holiday episode.
Warning: This article contains minor spoilers for the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina holiday special.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is the gift that keeps on giving. First, it made our Halloween season that much spookier and surprising with Part 1. Now, it’s doing the same for the Yuletide season with the Sabrinaholiday special that drops December 14th.
Den of Geek was part of a group of reporters who visited the Sabrina set last month. We got the scoop on “A Midwinter’s Tale” directly from the Sabrina cast.
“The holiday special is really wonderful,” said Kiernan Shipka (Sabrina). “It’s a really emotional episode and it’s beautiful for the holidays. Obviously, the show wouldn’t be our show without some excitement and some demons… literally.”
Shipka said that the holiday special strikes a good balance between the show’s many tones and worlds.
“It’s action-packed and it’s fun, but at the same time, there’s a lot of heart and there’s a lot of soul to it,” teased Shipka. “A lot of the relationships develop in it really beautifully. I think it really fuses the witch world and the mortal world in a really lovely way. It’s truly a very, very special episode. I really, really love it.”
Further reading: Everything We Know About Sabrina Part 2
Per the usual, much of the action in “A Midwinter’s Tale” is based inside of the Spellman house. Lucy Davis, who plays Aunt Hilda, gave us a peak into how the different members of the Spellman household feel about the solstice…
“Zelda is not all warm and fuzzy, and then Hilda is, as you can imagine,” said Davis. “And we decorated pretty well … It’s really nice, because it’s very… it’s nice and warm, it’s typical Sabrina stuff and some horror stuff, but you also learn a lot about Sabrina’s mom.” (As you may remember, at the end of Part 1, Sabrina discovered her mother is trapped in limbo.)
Miranda Otto, who plays Aunt Zelda, implied that her character will be distracted somewhat from the solstice season by the newest addition to the Spellman family: stolen baby Letitica!
“For Zelda, the story is very much about the baby, and having a baby in the house, and her attachment to the baby,” teased Otto. “I’m not going to tell you what happens exactly, but there’s a certain witch that comes to town … And Zelda is particularly worried because of the baby in the house … and Zelda finds herself very attached to baby Leticia.”
Further reading: Lachlan Watson Compares Sabrina to Doctor Who
Jaz Sinclair, who plays Roz, teased that she, too, will get to enter the Spellman house during the solstice season, saying: “I really loved it because I got to play with the Spellmans for the first time … So that was really fun for me, because I got to play with Hilda and Zelda for the first time, so I’m pretty pumped about that part of it.”
Even the Weird Sisters get in on the Spellman house action.
“Everyone gets to go home [for the holiday], and we’re left at the Academy cause we don’t have a family to go home to,” teased Adeline Rudolph, who plays Agatha. “Which is when Sabrina actually approaches us about the séance, and that’s when we get really excited about it. We get to call her mother to come, I think it’s our version of trying to have a family experience, or at least allow someone to get to see their mother again on their special day. That’s actually what the Weird Sisters are doing on Solstice.”
Harvey, aka Ross Lynch, doesn’t get much Yuletide action (though he gets more than Father Blackwood or Nick Scratch, neither of whom appear) now that he and Sabrina are officially on the outs.
“Yeah, I’m there, but it’s pretty minimal,” teased Lynch. “Purposefully, because Harvey and Sabrina’s relationship just isn’t — it’s not the same, so they’re not spending as much time together.”
Though there are holdovers, such as the status of ‘Brina and Harvey’s relationship, that are addressed in the holiday special, Shipka echoed Watson’s quasi-standalone sentiments, which means this might be the perfect episode to trick your friends or family members who have yet to see Part 1 into watching.
“It’s, in so many ways, a stand-alone episode,” said Shipka. “It doesn’t get too crazy on plot or this or that. It really just kind of focuses in on the characters and it takes its time. It’s super-perfect for the holidays.”
Find out more about the Sabrina holiday special here. Happy Solstice, everyone!
Kayti Burt is a staff editor covering books, TV, movies, and fan culture at Den of Geek. Read more of her work here or follow her on Twitter @kaytiburt.