Why Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Is Ending
By Kirsten Howard
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was a triumph at Netflix, so why did the streamer make Season 4 its last?
In 2017, Netflix picked up Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which was originally supposed to be a companion series for Riverdale on The CW.
The supernatural horror project was based on the Archie universe comics written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, and it was announced that he’d oversee its development.
In the series, Kiernan Shipka stars as Sabrina Spellman, a half-human, half-witch who has to balance life at a normal high school with learning witchcraft at the Academy of the Unseen Arts.
For those who had grown up with the Sabrina the Teenage Witch sitcom starring Melissa Joan Hart, the new Netflix show reinvented some very familiar characters.
Witch aunts Hilda and Zelda were still Sabrina’s closest allies, as was on-again-off-again boyfriend Harvey Kinkle.
Salem the cat was also back in the fold, but in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina he was mostly relegated to the witch’s occasionally-glimpsed, non-speaking “familiar.”
There was a new love interest created for Sabrina, too. Warlock Nick Scratch was rumored to be based on Marvel villain Nicholas Scratch, a wizard from New Salem.
The first part of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was released on Netflix just before Halloween in 2018.
It was a hit with audiences and critics alike. The dark modern update of Sabrina’s world was praised for its stellar cast, progressive undertones, thrilling horror and high production values.
Netflix had already ordered a second season, which was filming back-to-back with the first. It dropped in April, 2019, with a third part arriving in January, 2020.
Ahead of the fourth season streaming in late 2020, it was revealed that Netflix had cancelled Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
The streaming service didn’t confirm why it decided to end the series, but star Ross Lynch, who plays Harvey Kinkle, has said there was a Part 5 in the works which consisted of ten new episodes.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was floated as a reason that Season 5 did not move forward.
However, it has been noted that Netflix often doesn’t renew its shows past two seasons, as the audience reach tends to plateau at that point.
While Netflix doesn’t tend to reveal many of its ratings, it’s reasonable to assume that viewership on Sabrina might have also levelled out.
Though Season 4 left plenty of loose ends, it seems like Chilling Adventures of Sabrina won’t return in its current guise.
But we could still see some of the characters from the show pop up in Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s Sabrina-adjacent series, Riverdale, in the future.
But we could still see some of the characters from the show pop up in Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s Sabrina-adjacent series, Riverdale, in the future.