The CW has announced plans to reboot the WB witch-themed, fantasy franchise, "Charmed," with a new cast of characters.
What do we know about the project so far?
The premise will focus on a set of three new witches. According to a press release, the three heroines will be Tina, an intelligent, African-American Ph.D. student, Paige, said to be an All-American girl that wants to find true love, and Annie, a Caucasian tomboy who appears to have a hidden, troubled past. Unlike the original show, it has been said that the three girls are not intended to be sisters.
Interestingly enough, the heroines of original show were not conceived as being sisters, so there is speculation that the show will be based on its earlier pitches.
Added to that, Paige was the name of one of the sisters in the original show, portrayed by actress Rose McGowan, but it has been said to be unlikely that they are meant to be the same character. According to reports, the show is still in development, so it is possible that the name was just chosen as a placeholder that will later be changed, and is possibly meant to highlight her being a counterpart to the original. In addition, Jennie Snyder Urman is said to be connected to the project in development.
Have there been other attempts to give the show a spin-off?
The original series, which aired on the WB network, focused on four sisters who were good witches incognito that fought demons in San Francisco, played by actresses Alyssa Milano (Phoebe), Shannen Doherty (Prue), Holly Marie Combs (Piper), and Rose McGowan (Paige). Originally, there had been three sisters, with McGowan later being added as a fourth half-sister after Doherty left the show.
There had been at least three attempts to revive the franchise with spin-offs in the past. The episode, "A Witch's Tail," inspired an unaired pilot named "Mermaid," which appeared to be a modern reworking of "The Little Mermaid," set and filmed in Miami. Unfortunately, the series was reportedly passed on after the network merged with UPN to create the CW.
Additionally, at various points, a spin-off was planned based around the recurring character Billie Jenkins, who had been portrayed by Kaley Cuoco, but the network did not show interest in the pilot. Finally, there had been reports of a third possible spin-off focusing on Holly Marie Combs' character of Piper, but it is unconfirmed how far it went into development.
The show was eventually rebooted off-screen through a comic book series produced by Zenescope Entertainment, Unlike most of the previous spin-off attempts, including the current project in development, the series was a continuation of the lives of the original sisters. Dynamite Comics has also recently announced plans to produce a new comic series, set for an official release in 2017.
