Final Season Of The Witch

As Netflix’s teen horror show chilling adventures of sabrina meets an untimely end, sfx gets spooked on the vancouver set

- Jamie Tabberer

GOLDEN CANDELABRAS, satin tablecloths, a tattered Encyclopaedia Britannia dating back to 1910… SFX is surrounded by beautiful things right now. Our favourite: a kleptomaniainducing, Antiques Roadshow esque lamp with stained glass dragonflies and sculpted fairies at the base.

At a glance, the Spellman residence – home to the titular teen on Netflix’s Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina – is a hipster millennial’s dream house come to life. Which, for some, is nightmareinducing enough. But on closer inspection ghastly touches abound: from flayed faux-lizard fans in the lounge to a jar of “adder skin” in the kitchen. (SFX recoils on discovering that they’re actually bits of pickled cauliflower).

In the embalming room – Casa Spellman doubles up as a family-run mortuary, naturally – Miranda Otto points out “coyote eyeballs” with a chuckle. Otto, who plays family matriarch Zelda, is giving us a tour of the set, which is just outside of Vancouver.

Scarier than all this, however, is the fact that this elaborate set is set to vanish soon. In July, Netflix announced that Sabrina would (somewhat prematurely) end after part four. A passionate, fan-driven campaign to reverse the decision followed, but to no avail.

BEING DOUBLE

Technically, Sabrina spans only two seasons. But thanks to its pace and unique structure – each season is split into two binge-friendly “parts” – the show has made an outsized mark. It’s certainly been a trip for Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka), whose journey from precocious schoolgirl to rule-breaking half-witch to Queen of Hell and time-travelling, irrepressible wonder woman has been so not your typical tale of late adolescence.