Sabrina the teenage witch and Salem the cat go hand-in-hand, so it may come as a surprise that its showrunner almost considered changing him to a dog.
However, before you scream outrage, there is a legit reason – the new lead in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina can't actually bear the cat (like legitimately can't bear).
"I get a call that says, 'Kiernan is allergic to the cat,'" showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa told Entertainment Weekly. "It did go through my mind: Could Salem be a dog?"
In the end they went with a cat, Shipka explaining that they cope by keeping "at a safe distance" and joking that "it's like, 'Actors That Didn't Get Along in Shows: Kiernan and the Cat Hated Each Other'."
The show's key players have also teased what to expect from the new series, star Lucy Davis (Aunt Hilda) adding: "We're not remaking Sabrina, The Teenage Witch. This is a different thing."
Aguirre-Sacasa added: "The idea was to do a dark horror version of Sabrina, something that was more of a slow-burn horror, like The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby and all those great satanic horror movies from the 1960s and 1970s."
What to Read Next
The new Netflix series debuted its first teaser yesterday, giving us an eerie insight into the dark-looking series as well as a first glimpse at Salem.
The show's synopsis reads: "Tonally in the vein of Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist, this adaptation finds Sabrina wrestling to reconcile her dual nature - half-witch, half-mortal - while standing against the evil forces that threaten her, her family and the daylight world humans inhabit."
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comes to Netflix worldwide on October 26.
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Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies, TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International. Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind, and is equally in his element crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' as a sub-editor.
