With Sabrina the Teenage Witch‘s return to television in the form of The CW’s forthcoming Chilling Adventures of Sabrina adaptation (thanks to Riverdale), it’s no surprise that the original embodiment of teen witchitude has some thoughts. Actress, producer, and director Melissa Joan Hart played Sabrina from 1996 through 2003, and though she’s happy to see the character she made iconic get new life, she’s more interested in seeing another of her old characters get her due: Clarissa Darling of Clarissa Explains it All. And it’s not just because of our ’90s nostalgia obsession!
We sat down Hart, who has recently directed Lifetime’s The Watcher in the Woods remake, to talk about her film and the legacy she left behind from her TV days. In the course of admitting our own fondness for Clarissa, Hart actually explained why hers is a story worth revisiting—maybe even more so than Sabrina’s.
To be frank: we totally agree with her! While we love and are happy to see Sabrina return, Clarissa was the first-ever female lead for a series on Nickelodeon, and the ways in which she dealt with adolescent issues was groundbreaking for the time. (I mean, hello—she played VIDEO GAMES TO SOLVE HER PROBLEMS and didn’t put up with her pesky little brother Fergwad, erm, I mean Ferguson). Besides, the series’ creator Mitchell Kriegman wrote a book in 2015 called Things I Can’t Explain about Clarissa navigating her 20s. So you really could go myriad ways with it!
But what do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
Alicia Lutes is the Managing Editor, creator/host of Fangirling, and resident Khaleesi of House Nerdist. Find her on Twitter!
Want More Sabrina News?
- Here’s everything we know about The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina adaptation.
- Here Melissa Joan Hart talking about the Sabrina reboot.
- And finally, hear Sabrina the Teenage Witch Nell Scovell talk about the series creator !
Image: Nickelodeon
