‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ to Feature an ‘Exorcist’ Inspired Episode

Even though we have yet to receive an official trailer, the premiere of Netflix’s Riverdale spinoff Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is quickly approaching and we can’t handle our excitement! While the series will tell the tale of Sabrina Spellman, CAOS is not going to be anything like the beloved Melissa Joan Hart sitcom from the early 2000’s. In fact, fans can expect to see a darker twist put on the popular coming of age story.

The series, which received a straight to series two season order from Netflix, follows Sabrina as she juggles both evil forces and trying to be your average half human – half witch. Tonally it will be told in the same vein of Rosemary’s Baby, The Crucible, and The Exorcist, with the latter of which playing a huge part in one of the future episodes.

While recently speaking with EW, series creator and showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa revealed that each episode of CAOS will be more than just an hour of television saying “Sabrina is the heroine in this series of mini-movies.” Well, seeing the opportunity to bring the horror film genre to his television show, Aguirre-Sacasa also revealed one homage episode fans can expect at some point during the first two seasons.

[row]“I love The Exorcist. It’s one of my favorite movies. We’re doing an homage to that; we’re doing an episode that’s like [The Exorcist],” he said.[/row]

Released in 1973, The Exorcist was adapted for the big screen by William Peter Blatty from his 1971 novel of the same name. It follows the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl named Regan and her mother’s attempts to win her back through an exorcism conducted by two priests. The film was both a critical and commercial success earning over $440 million at the box office and currently holds a Certified Fresh score of 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was nominated for ten Academy Awards in 1974. While it walked away with two Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound Mixing, it is still known for being the first horror film to be nominated for Best Picture.

Warner Bros.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina finds Man Men alum Kiernan Shipka in the titular role. Shipka has spoken in the past about just how much the darker elements of the series, which is based on the popular Archie comic, spoke to her.

[row]“After I read the script, I became immediately obsessed with the role, with how Sabrina is portrayed and how badass the whole thing is. It’s going to be really dark and really cool, and have this very like macabre take on everything. I’m really pumped to be a witch. Who wouldn’t be?” Shipka toldComicBook.com earlier this year. [/row]

In addition to Shipka, the series will also star Ross Lynch as Harvey Finkle, Lucy Davis as Aunt Hilda, Miranda Otto as Aunt Zelda, Jaz Sinclair as Sabrina’s friend Rosalind Walker, and Tati Gabrielle as her rival Prudence.