The 'Sabrina' Cast Has A LOT Of Feelings About The Show Ending
New Year's Eve 2020 will be a bittersweet day. It's sweet because Chilling Adventures of Sabrina fans are getting a whole new season to watch (and doubly sweet because this dumpster fire of a year is finally ending). But it's also bitter, because this new season marks the unexpected end of the spooky show. Ahead of the Part 4 premiere, the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina cast members — Kiernan Shipka, Gavin Leatherwood, Jaz Sinclair, and Lachlan Watson — have a lot to say about the show's ending.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is one of many beloved series that got the axe by Netflix in 2020. Similar to now-canceled shows like The Society and GLOW, fans believe the streaming service ended CAOS due to complications of the coronavirus pandemic. Whether or not that's the case, the cancellation news shook not only fans of the show, but also its stars, who say they had no idea when they were filming the newest season that it would be their last. Luckily, even though Part 4 wasn't necessarily planned to be the series' ending, Shipka, who plays the titular teen witch Sabrina, says the show wraps up nicely.
Below, Shipka, Leatherwood (Nick) , Sinclair (Roz), and Watson (Theo) reflect on the legacy of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and tease what's to come in the fourth and final installment.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Elite Daily: When did you find out Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was ending with Part 4, and what went through your mind?
Kiernan Shipka: I [had just gotten] scuba-certified. I was on a ferry back to Los Angeles from Catalina Island. It was kind of a weird moment. I had just spent time under the sea, my life was changing, and I was very emotional.
Gavin Leatherwood: A lot of us had phone calls right after [getting the news] with each other, and just did that reminiscing thing [of], "Holy sh*t, it's all over, but what an amazing ride it was." We've got one more part coming, which is the cherry on top. We're excited for everyone to see it.
The ending is so ridiculously brilliant. I don't think anyone's going to see it coming.
ED: So, you didn't know when you were filming Part 4 that it would be the ending?
KS: No one knew when we were filming, but I will say that we shot the ending with the "ending-ending" in mind. So I think people are going to be really satisfied. It's not like, "Oh, wait, it just randomly ended." People are going to get closure. So for that, I am very happy and very excited. I think Part 4 is such a strong season, and the ending is so ridiculously brilliant. I don't think anyone's going to see it coming.
ED: What can you tease about your character's storyline in Part 4?
Lachlan Watson: You really see Theo come into his own and start sticking up for himself, along with everybody else. I think he's been so loyal to everybody around him that he may not have been so loyal to himself. So I think that'll be really fun for everybody to watch and it was really fun for me to explore.
[Theo and Robin] are thriving. I think we get to dive a little deeper into what they really mean to each other in Part 4 and what they're willing to do for each other, which I think is really cool. It goes a little beyond just the teen fascination. I think you really get to dive into what these two people's lives are really going to look like.
Jaz Sinclair: I think Harvalind shippers should keep their Harvalind shirts and caps, because it's really exciting and beautiful and there's a bunch of wonderful things that Harvey and Roz get up to. The whole spectrum of tension, sexiness, tenderness, adventures... Yeah. I really, really, really love Harvey and Roz's relationship this season and I really feel like they found a groove and they're in such a sweet spot together.
GL: The last time we see [Nick] in Part 3 is with Prudence, and it's the first time we're seeing him open up, emotionally, in a long time. He'd just gone through a lot of trauma, and through some self-destructive tendencies in Part 3. In Part 4, he attempts to get back to his life. But something happened to him ever since Sabrina came into his life, and that is he caught a glimpse of love. When that happens to someone, they're forever changed. How he goes about reconciling with that feeling is what we'll see in Part 4.
Elite Daily: With Part 4 being the ending for CAOS, what do you hope the legacy of this show will be?
JS: Aesthetically, it's just so superb and beautiful and wonderful and unique. So I just think, how stylized it is, is going to be a big part of what people remember. And then also how we ride the line of comedy and horror. I think it's such a sweet spot that isn't done often, I don't think, and I think we do a really good job at that.
LW: We have the family, we have the cast, that's something that will stick with us [as actors]. But I think in pop culture, from the minute I walked into the Spellman house set, I was like, "This is going to be iconic."
I hope it pays homage to the modern young adult trying to find their way.
GL: The whole show is, in some way, dealing with balance — between lightness and darkness, and the friendly world, the mortal world, the witchy world. We see Sabrina go overboard in some directions with being too involved in the witch world or being too involved in the mortal world. So there is constantly this search for balance. As a young adult, it's a really tricky thing to strike that balance. I'm still learning.
KS: I hope it pays homage to the modern young adult trying to find their way and doing what's right and sticking up for their friends, as cheesy as that sounds. Sabrina and so many people in the show are just exemplary people of just kindness and good. I think this show really does deal with good versus evil — and I hope that good will always win.
The fourth and final installment of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina arrives on Netflix on Dec. 31, 2020.
