Is Melissa Joan Hart In Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina?

The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina features a few nods to its predecessor Sabrina The Teenage Witch, but has original Sabrina Spellman actress Melissa Joan Hart ever appeared on the show? While Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina and Sabrina The Teenage Witch are both about the same teen sorceress, the two shows are very different beasts. The latter is a family-friendly sitcom based on the Archie Comics series of the same name that presents Sabrina (Melissa Joan Hart) as a perky witch-in-training living with her aunts Hilda (Caroline Rhea) and Zelda (Beth Broderick) and practicing a lighthearted kind of magic.

Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina is also based on the Archie series but one that imagines a much darker, horror-tinged take on the original Sabrina The Teenage Witch comics. This Sabrina Spellman (played by Kiernan Shipka) is still a fledgling witch being raised by her aunts, but the magic she practices is distinctly dark and her witchy coming-of-age involves pledging herself to Satan. While Melissa Joan Hart’s Sabrina gets herself into sticky but ultimately funny situations, Kiernan Shipka’s Sabrina is out battling demons, ghosts, fellow witches and the Dark Lord himself.

Despite the obvious differences in tone, Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina has paid homage to it is TV predecessor in some obvious (and not so obvious) ways. Season 2 episode “The Epiphany” showed Sabrina magically changing into different outfits in front of her mirror much like the OG Sabrina did in the opening credits of Sabrina The Teenage Witch. Later in season 2, Sabrina declares that pancakes are her favorite breakfast food which is a nod to a Sabrina The Teenage Witch episode in which the titular character becomes addicted to pancakes. The most overt reference came in the season 4 episode “The Endless” when Sabrina Spellman’s doppelganger Sabrina Morningstar traveled to a sitcom-esque parallel universe in which original Sabrina The Teenage Witch actresses Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick cameoed as alternate versions of Aunt Hilda and Aunt Zelda.

Unfortunately, Melissa Joan Hart didn’t have a cameo in “The Endless” alongside her Sabrina The Teenage Witch co-stars. Whether it was a case of Hart being asked to appear in the episode and declining, or that the original Sabrina was just never a part of the episode to begin with is unknown. Either way, Hart hasn’t appeared in Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina and now that Netflix has cancelled the show it looks like she’ll never get the chance.

Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina may be over but the good news is that it will live on via an upcoming comic book series titled The Occult World Of Sabrina that’s set to pick up where the Netflix show left off. Fans of Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina can also look forward to Kiernan Shipka reprising her Sabrina role in the forthcoming season 6 episode of fellow Archie Comics adaptation Riverdale.