Earlier this week we learned that CBS is developing a Charmed reboot. This comes after the success of The Witches of East End and AHS: Coven. Are witches poised to be the next big thing in TV? All signs point to yes.
The Witches of East End and AHS: Coven are witch centric, but several other new shows this fall include witches as part of their story lines. The well received Sleepy Hollow has Ichabod Crane married to a witch who accidental ties his fate to one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The Vampire Diaries spin off The Originals places witches at war with vampires over New Orleans. The best part about all of these shows is that each has a unique lore it uses.
So why all the witch love? Witches are as old as time, and tales of witchcraft are scattered throughout history. This allows for diversity in storytelling. While both Witches of East End and AHS: Coven use Salem as a backdrop for their witch’s origin story, the plot lines are completely different. One is about a cursed family being stalked by an unknown person. The other is about the secret history of witches and a school where young witches are sent to learn how to protect themselves. In the case of Charmed they fought demons and could do all sorts of crazy things.
Witches represent the extraordinary hiding in plain sight. The way they are portrayed on TV, witches can blend into normal society pretty easily, but they hide power that could wreck that society in a blink if they chose. Witch is a word that is familiar, yet the possibilities of what they can do are endless. There is a normality to witches that the average person can relate to even if they can do things we only wish we could.
Perhaps the best thing about the increase of witches on TV is the increase in strong female characters. It isn’t very often we get TV shows driven by females in powerful roles, because often times they are undermined by their male counterparts. The Witches of East End stars Julia Ormond, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, and Rachel Boston as a family of witches trying to figure out who is hunting them. AHS: Coven has Jessica Lange, Angela Bassett, and Kathy Bates. Charmed was the longest running hour-long series featuring an all-female cast and the reboot is looking to have four lead females to keep with that tradition.