‘Riverdale’: Kiernan Shipka Thinks Sabrina Spellman’s Work Isn’t Finished
TL;DR:
- Sabrina Spellman recently returned for her second Chilling Adventures of Sabrina x Riverdale crossover.
- Kiernan Shipka says she thinks the town of Riverdale will need Sabrina again in season 7.
- Kiernan Shipka hopes another crossover will provide closure for other Chilling Adventures characters.
Sabrina Spellman just had her second visit to the town of Riverdale, but it may not have been her last. That’s what Kiernan Shipka is hoping, anyway. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina star discussed the twenty-something witch’s Riverdale crossover in a recent interview. Riverdale doesn’t have any more Sabrina visits scheduled in season 6, but Shipka hopes the CW series will make room for her in the seventh and final season. Here’s what she said.
Sabrina Spellman recently took her second trip to Riverdale
Kiernan Shipka’s Sabrina Spellman played a crucial role in Riverdale Season 6 Episode 19, “Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen: The Witches of Riverdale.” The town had just experienced a plague brought on by Percival Pickens (Chris O’Shea), which killed some of Riverdale’s firstborns — Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse), Archie Andrews (KJ Apa), Fangs Fogarty (Drew Ray Tanner), Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan), and Dagwood Blossom (Bentley Storteboom).
Hoping to find a way to bring her loved ones back, Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) called Sabrina. The Greendale witch specialized in necromancy and could resurrect the dead. To do so, however, she needed a coven. So, Sabrina turned Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes), Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart), and Tabitha Tate (Erinn Westbrook) into witches, rounding out the group with fellow witches Cheryl and Heather (Caroline Day).
Sabrina visited the Sweet Hereafter to convince Jughead to cross back into the mortal world. He didn’t want to come, so she instead used his body to house the soul of her boyfriend, Nick Scratch. Nick sacrificed himself to bring Sabrina back to life after her death in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. The couple helped the Riverdale gang resurrect their loved ones and slipped away for one last romantic date before Nick returned to the afterlife.
Kiernan Shipka expects more ‘Chilling Adventures’ crossovers with ‘Riverdale’ in season 7
Everyone is alive and well in Riverdale again, but a witch’s work is never done. Kiernan Shipka recently told TV Guide that she hopes Sabrina’s new friends will need her again in Riverdale Season 7.
“Yeah, she has to come back. I think they’re gonna need her help again,” the actor said. “Like for entertainment’s sake, I would say [they should] lean into the chaos — no pun intended — as much as they can and work hard and have faith that it’s all gonna work out, but at the end of the day, just truly probably call Sabrina again. I think they’re gonna need her, to be quite honest.”
Shipka stressed how much she loves playing Sabrina and how much fun she had on the Riverdale set. She revealed that she keeps in touch with Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the creator of both Riverdale and Chilling Adventures, about future Sabrina cameos.
“I told him whenever you need me, I’m there. I’m your girl,” Shipka added. “But I really do think that we’re both so passionate about this character and keeping her alive and well in the zeitgeist, in the universe. … I truly don’t know what that looks like, but I am up for it. I don’t know if it’s a year from now, I don’t know if it’s two or three, but I’m still Sabrina.”
Kiernan Shipka wants ‘closure’ for other ‘Chilling Adventures’ characters in future crossovers
Shipka doesn’t know what her future as Sabrina holds, but she certainly has some ideas. She explained that this Riverdale episode brought the Nick and Sabrina closure that many CAOS fans, and herself, needed. Should another Riverdale x Chilling Adventures crossover happen, Sabrina hopes other CAOS characters will get screentime.
“I feel like I would still love to see Sabrina with her aunts and Harvey [Ross Lynch] and Ambrose [Chance Perdomo]. I know we got a little bit of Sabrina and Nick closure, but I would really really really love to see Sabrina with the other characters as well,” Shipka said. “That’s something that I want, and I think a lot of other people would want too. She’s fostered such interesting relationships with everyone in her world and I think seeing that would be wonderful.”
Riverdale airs on Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on the CW.
