But one thing we were shocked to discover is that Sabrina’s trusty kitty, Salem, doesn’t possess the ability to speak to humans like he did in the '90s series Sabrina The Teenage Witch starring Melissa Joan Hart.
Sabrina Spellman herself, Kiernan Shipka, told ET why Salem remains mute in the modern reboot.
“I know the original Salem is like a meme because he’s so sassy and fun, but I feel like that’s probably its own iconic thing,” she said. “It’s cool that we’re doing something that’s slightly more different because I don’t think that you could compare to that at all, so I was happy.”
Kiernan also revealed that there is actually three black cats that portray Salem in CAOS.
“It just felt very in line with the show too to be a little more, like, subtle but still sort of there,” she said. “It felt like just the right balance. And I mean all three of [the cats who play Salem] are stars: Shaq and Boomer and Edward. They are always on. They’re scene-stealers! You’re going to get upstaged by them.”
Unfortunately for Kiernan, she can't get too close to her furry co-star!
“I'm pretty allergic to cats,” she said.
The lack of speech isn’t the only difference between the two characters.
In Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Salem is actually a warlock who was transformed into a cat as punishment by the witches’ council, whereas in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Salem is Sabrina’s ‘familiar’, which is a “goblin who have taken on the shape of animals to better serve their witch masters.”
