The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has provided the first look at Sabrina’s black cat Salem on the Netflix TV show. After beginning life as a Riverdale spinoff on The CW, Netflix ordered two seasons of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and it’s set to stream the series later this year. The show is based on the comic book run of the same name, which Archie Comics unrolled in 2014 to critical acclaim. Similar to Riverdale, Aquirre-Sacasa (who is also the current Chief Creative Officer of Archie Comics) will serve in a showrunner capacity on The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina TV show.
Along with being the CCO of Archie Comics and writing many of their books, Aguirre-Sacasa will help to maintain a link between both Riverdale and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, despite the difference in networks. And to ensure fans of all the previous incarnations of the Sabrina the Teenage Witch character that this new show will nail the basics, Aguirre-Sacasa has revealed the first look at a certain furry fan-favorite.
Aguirre-Sacasa took to Twitter to share the first image of Salem in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (see the photo below). And unlike the character from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, it appears that he won’t be animatronic.
The Salem character was an animatronic puppet voiced by Nick Bakay on the 1990s Sabrina the Teenage Witch TV series, though several real cats were used for the non-dialogue scenes. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina may take a similar approach to bringing Salem to life, combining CGI with footage of the real-life black cat (most likely, cats) seemingly pictured above.
While not every version of Salem has spoken, the version in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comics does, so the TV adaptation will presumably follow suit. Salem is an ancient magic user who tried to take over the world, only to be turned into a cat as punishment. In the 1990s Sabrina TV show, he was given to Hilda Spellman, one of his sympathizers. Other versions, however, have seen him act as an evil counterweight to Sabrina to ensure magical balance.
Whichever take we get on Salem, fans will likely be anxious to see the cat in action and speaking. Hopefully, that will come in the form of a trailer for the show. Along with the arrival of Salem, Kiernan Shipka has been cast as Sabrina so things appear to be moving along at a steady pace on the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina front.
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The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina premieres on Netflix later this year.
Source: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
