10 ways Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Sabrina the Teenage Witch are different

How the new Netflix series compares to the '90s sitcom
By Samantha Highfill
October 26, 2018 at 06:43 PM EDT

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A Tale of Two Sabrinas

George Lange/ABC/Getty Images; Diyah Pera/Netflix

Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina — which is streaming now — is based on the comic of the same name, and therefore, differs greatly from the ’90s sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch. For starters, Kiernan Shipka plays Sabrina in the new series, a role that was first played by Melissa Joan Hart.

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The Spellman House

ABC; NETFLIX

Sabrina lives with her aunts in both shows, but in Chilling Adventures, the house is more than a home — it’s the Spellman Mortuary. Chilling Adventures also takes place in Greendale, while Sabrina the Teenage Witch existed in a fictional Boston suburb called Westbridge.

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Aunt Hilda and Aunt Zelda

Bob D'Amico/ABC/Getty Images; Netflix

Lucy Davis and Miranda Otto take on the roles once played by Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick, and in this iteration, they work at the mortuary. Additionally, Sabrina’s parents are dead in the reboot, whereas her parents would occasionally visit Sabrina in the sitcom.

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Sweet, sweet Harvey Kinkle

ABC; Diyah Pera/Netflix

Sabrina’s human boyfriend exists in both shows, though Chilling Adventures of Sabrina follows Harvey home much more than the sitcom ever did. This time around, Harvey works in the mines with his family and has a few crazy experiences of his own.

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Academy of Unseen Arts

NETFLIX

In Chilling Adventures, Sabrina attends two schools instead of one, splitting her time between a normal human high school and the Academy of the Unseen Arts, where she learns about magic.

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The Weird Sisters

Diyah Pera/Netflix

Chilling Adventures adds The Weird Sisters, best known as the mean girls of The Academy of Unseen Arts, Sabrina’s witch school.

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The Dark Baptism

Diyah Pera/Netflix

Becoming a witch is much darker in Chilling Adventures. In order to join the Church of Night, a witch has to sign her soul over to the Dark Lord, none of which existed in the ’90s show.

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The mortals

Bob D'Amico/ABC/Getty Images; Diyah Pera/Netflix

Where Chilling Adventures has Rosalind and Susie, Sabrina’s best friends, the original also had a handful of mortals who attended school with Sabrina, including Valerie, her friend, and Libby, her enemy (to name a few).

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Salem vs. Salem

ABC; NETFLIX

Sabrina the Teenage Witch featured Salem, the snarky talking cat. In Chilling Adventures, Sabrina does find her familiar in Salem, but only she can understand what he’s saying whenever he meows. 

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Cousin Ambrose

Diyah Pera/Netflix

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina adds a new member to the family: Along with her aunts, Sabrina lives with her cousin Ambrose, a warlock who’s on house arrest after plotting to blow up the Vatican.

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