Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina Season 5: Why It Was Canceled

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 5 is not happening, and although Netflix has canceled the show, it has continued as a comic. The cancellation came as a disappointment, after the most recent season of the Archie Comics-based horror series was a game-changer for Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Following the events of season 3, in which Sabrina caused a time-travel paradox, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 4 had a lot to deal with. With two Sabrinas existing in the same timeline, it was only a matter of time before the universe would start to feel the effects of Sabrina’s time travel.

While the Fright Club and Sabrina’s loved ones came together to resolve her actions, the show’s heroine had to pay the ultimate price, and Kiernan Shipka’s character was killed off in the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina series finale. In order to save the world, the show’s titular character gave up her own life and, unfortunately, there was no magical post-credit scene to undo her death. Even with all that excitement surrounding the show’s intense storylines, Netflix announced Chilling Adventures of Sabrina would be coming to an end with season 4 and the anticipated fifth season would not be happening.

Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina Ended With Season 4

The Series Ended With Sabrina’s Death

Sabrina allows herself to be sacrificed because she understands the danger the Void poses to the world.

The season 4 finale of the series saw the Eldritch Terrors descend on Greendale. The Void is the last of the terrors that Sabrina has to go up against and the most dangerous as it takes in everything in its path. Unfortunately, when Sabrina Spellman takes on the Void (after already losing Sabrina Morningstar), a piece of the Void lives on within her. While Father Blackwood intends to use Sabrina and sacrifice her to gain the power of the Void, she knows that if she’s sacrificed without him harnessing the power, the Void will no longer be a danger to the world.

The plan that Sabrina and her family come up with involves putting the other Eldritch Terrors inside the Void and “draining” the Void from Sabrina while her friends get those trapped inside out. Draining Sabrina too fast, however, means that she loses too much blood, which can lead to her death. Sabrina allows herself to be sacrificed because she understands the danger the Void poses to the world.

While most of Sabrina’s allies survive until the end of the series, they have to grieve her and move on with their lives.

Why Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina Was Canceled After Season 4

The Series Was A Victim Of COVID-19 Cancelations

The last episodes of Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina were added to Netflix in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic kicked into high gear around the world. Film productions shut down and communities were isolated in order to slow the spread of the deadly virus. Because of filming being shutdown, several studios, television networks, and streamers had to make decisions about what they wanted to pick back up once filming was able to resume.

Netflix canceled several programs as the result of delays from filming shutdowns. They opted not to renew Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina for season 5 because of the delays caused by the pandemic as well.

A Return For Sabrina Was Teased

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa Talked About Continuing The Story

Even with the cancelation of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix, fans have held out hope it was not truly the end – and of course, it would be far from the first time that a supernatural show continues after the death of a main character. A fifth season has already been teased by the creative mind behind Sabrina and Riverdale, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, in an interview with Deadline.

”
I reached out to [Archie Comics CEO/publisher] Jon Goldwater and told him that Sabrina is going to eventually come back. We’re going to find a way to continue with Kiernan, but in the meantime, what if we bring back the comic book?
“

The big news isn’t that there would be another Sabrina comic book, which wouldn’t be a wildly unexpected move from Archie Comics. The reason the comments are noteworthy is that Augiree-Sacasa said that Sabrina will “eventually come back“, and that he was finding a way to work with Kiernan Shipka.

Netflix has good reasons for season 4 being the end of the series, but these comments initially seemed to suggest that a reboot or sequel series is in the works, or even that the show could continue elsewhere. However, it should be noted that these comments were made before Shipka reprised her role as Sabrina on two episodes of Riverdale, which could have been what Aguirre-Sacasa was really teasing.

Sabrina’s Return In Riverdale Explained

How Did Sabrina Return From The Dead?

Season 4 was not the true end for Sabrina Spellman, as Kiernan Shipka officially reprised the role of Sabrina as part of Riverdale season 6, finally taking advantage of the live-action crossover producers have been teasing for years. Sabrina appears in two episodes of Riverdale season 6.

The first of the two episodes jumped through time with different versions of Abigail Blossom from 1892, Poppy Blossom from 1957, and Cheryl Blossom in the present day. In the episode, Sabrina revealed that witches never really die, which explains her return and provides more potential for a season 5 to be continued elsewhere. In the second of the crossover episodes, Cheryl calls on Sabrina again, when a new threat looms. Riverdale itself wrapped up in 2023, however, there is always potential for a joint spin-off series, should the creators wish to go down that route.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 5 Got A Comic Book Adaptation

The Full Plans For A Riverdale Crossover Were Fulfilled

Showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa said a possible Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 5 would have finally seen Sabrina and Riverdale crossover fans have wanted to see since Sabrina was developed for The CW. It happened as a comic book titled “Witch War.” This wasn’t the first time that a genre series has continued in comic form, with shows like Smallville and Buffy the Vampire Slayer having done that with great success.

In the story, Sabrina is back and ends up in a battle with evil forces that results in the death of one of her closest companions. So, as sad as it is to see Chilling Adventures of Sabrina end its TV run, at least a fifth season in a comic format gave fans more of the story to sink their teeth into.

What The Cast & Crew Said About The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina Ending

The Cast Said Their Goodbyes

Before the final batch of episodes was available to stream, they had already been announced as the end of the show. showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa told TV Line after the announcement was made that he was grateful for still being able to tell the story he wanted to tell:

Working on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has been an incredible honor from Day One. The cast, beginning with Kiernan as everyone’s favorite teen witch, has been an absolute joy. I am beyond thankful to the crew, writers, editors, assistants, and everyone for pouring so much love into this dark dream of a show. I’m also grateful to our partners at Netflix, Warner Bros., Berlanti Television and Archie Comics for letting us tell the story we wanted to tell, the way we wanted to tell it.

Some cast members were not surprised that the fourth batch of episodes ended up being the end of the show on Netflix. Miranda Otto felt like the show was coming to an end. She told Entertainment Tonight:

I think I was the only one that had a sneaking suspicion that we were saying goodbye on that last day. I was crying and hugging people.

Otto shared her suspicions with Lucy Davis, who told the same outlet:

Miranda said to me about two weeks before, she had a theory of why she didn’t think we would be coming back, and it hadn’t occurred to me. We were outside at 2 in the morning, outside of the Spellman house, and I remember being in a bit of a daze the first few takes, like, “Is this the last time we’re going to see the Spellman house?”… I was able to go, “This might be the last time.”… She’s psychic with all these things.

Shipka explained that they were prepared for the possibility of the finale they shot being the last episode of the show. There were multiple versions of the finale in the script, and they even shot multiple versions of the end of the show, but Shipka said it was clear what the end would likely be:

There were different versions of the script depending on if it was a finale or not, but the shot that we ended up going with, the second that I read that I was like, “Oh, that’s the end.” I know we could keep going and I know we could make something out of it, but my gosh is that an ending. And I was just like, “Got it, that’s it.”

Lachlan Watson called the ending “powerful,” but admitted, “It’s the perfect way to end it, but I think some people are going to be a little mad. I think we were a little mad. We want to do more! I think the fans are going to want more.” Watson wasn’t wrong as many fans were dissatisfied with the ending, even if they understood it.

Would The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Cast Return?

The Show’s Cast Has Moved On To Other Projects

While a continuation of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina remains unlikely, if it does happen, it would be difficult to imagine without the return of Kiernan Shipka herself, or Sabrina’s aunts (who would presumably bring her back). However, most of the cast has since moved on to new projects, making it difficult to get everyone back.

Kiernan Shipka went from her breakout role on Mad Men to leading her own series as Sabrina. Now she is making a name for herself in movies with acclaimed turns in Wildflower and Totally Killer. She also has some big projects on the horizon, starring in the summer blockbuster Twisters and appearing alongside Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans in the holiday action flick Red One.

The supporting cast of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina are also finding a lot of success after the show ended. Adeline Rudolph starred in Netflix’s Resident Evil series and will play Kitana in Mortal Kombat 2. Tati Gabriella starred with Giancarlo Esposito in Kaleidoscope and Tom Holland in Uncharted while also being set to appear in the second season of The Last of Us as Nora.

Ross Lynch (who played Harvey) has now moved on to focus on his musical career as part of the duo The Driver Era, Miranda Otto has been busy with multiple series including Ladies in Black, The Clearing, and Wellmania, and will be reprising her role as Eowyn in War of the Rohirrim, and Lucy Davis was most recently working on the tv series The Villains Of Valley View, although that project has since wrapped.

There was also a Chilling Adventures of Sabrina reunion with Jaz Sinclair taking on the starring role as Marie Moreau in The Boys spinoff series Gen V in which she starred opposite Chance Perdomo as Andre Anderson. Tragically, Perdomo passed away in March 2024 due to complications from injuries in a motorcycle accident at the age of 27.

Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina Reception

The Show’s Positive Reception Declined With Each Batch of Episodes

…critics and audiences alike loved that the show could be as dark as it was while still leaning in to camp and humor.

For the most part, critical reception to Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was positive throughout the run of the show. Especially during the first part of the series, critics and audiences alike loved that the show could be as dark as it was while still leaning in to camp and humor. There was near-universal acclaim for Shipka’s casting in the lead role with The Hollywood Reporter saying that the “appeal of Sabrina, increasing as the show goes along, comes mostly from Shipka.”

In 2019, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was nominated for Best Series at the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards and received a Best Streaming Horror & Thriller Series nomination from the Saturn Awards.

Some of that dark sparkle wore off as the show continued into parts two and three as the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes shows that both critical and audience scores (now called the Popcornmeter) dropped as the show progressed. That, however, isn’t unusual once audiences get past the newness of a first season of a show.

The final batch of episodes of the show has the lowest critical score, though not the lowest Popcornmeter measurement. Critics largely dubbed the ending “fitting” for the show, even as they disliked that some characters didn’t get enough story in the final part of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.