The CW is wasting no time with their upcoming reboot of Charmed. Just three days after announcing the series had been greenlit for a full series order the network unveiled the first trailer, giving audiences a look into the lives of a new, more racially diverse, trio of sisters who will have to vanquish evil and struggle with their own internal issues.
The nearly four-minute trailer introduces Mel and Madison (played by Nuyorican actress Melonie Diaz and Sarah Jeffrey) as well as the estranged sister they never knew, Macy (Madeline Mantock). The three are forced to come together after their mother dies in a mysterious accident Mel believes is actually a murder but everyone else sees as something more innocent. The briefest of snapshots are shown involving the girls’ personal lives and their powers. Madison is hoping to join a sorority and can read minds, Mel can stop time, and Macy has the ability to move things without words. We watch them learn – through the tutelage of a very prim witch “adviser” played by Rupert Evans – that the sisters are witches and that their mother’s death was no accident. A smash cut shows us all manner of powers, demons, and plot that we aren’t clear on now. Through it all the girls, and the audience, are reminded that “you’re better together, your differences are your strengths, and nothing is stronger than your sisterhood.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=228&v=loWpbevW9xg
The show is being spearheaded by Jane the Virgin showrunner Jennie Snyder-Urman and though there are marked differences in the plots this new take on Charmed should draw in people who love Jane. The three actresses look like a lot of fun and seem to have an easy chemistry together. It’s also great to see a few callbacks from the original series, which ran from 1998 to 2006, including their spellbook, The Book of Shadows, and I do believe that’s the same house the Halliwell sisters lived in. This continues the CW’s interest in getting Latino audiences though, interestingly, there’s no direct references to these Charmed girls being Latina. They’re also doing a more racially resonate reboot of the alien melodrama Roswell this year. Now to start thinking how and whether any of the original cast will pop by to say “hello?”
Charmed airs Sundays starting this fall on the CW.