Sony Pictures is ready to make some magic happen with a new Bewitched animated TV series. First premiered in 1962 on ABC, the original show starred Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York and lasted for eight seasons, becoming one of the most popular sitcoms in television’s history.
The story followed Samantha and Darrin, a seemingly regular married couple whose simple life changes completely when she confesses to him that she’s a witch during their honeymoon. Since that moment, their daily lives are filled with weird and comedic situations, especially because Samantha’s mother, Endora is not a fan of the idea of her daughter being married to a mortal, so she tries to make Darrin’s days a living hell.
On Thursday, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Sony Pictures is developing a new animated series inspired by Bewitched, described as “Hannah Montana meets Harry Potter.”
The announcement is part of a series of new projects the studio is developing based on other classics such as The Partridge Family, Wheel of Fortune, and Shark Tank, all targeting a child audience.
This is not the first alternate project related to Bewitched. Back in 1965, Dell Comics released a series of short stories with Samantha as the main character. In 1972, Hanna-Barbera produced some animated specials for television. And in 2005, Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell starred in a live-action movie inspired by the series, but it wasn’t so well received. Some countries such as Argentina, India, and Japan had their own versions of Bewitched, but none of them managed to be as popular as the original.
What the Bewitched Animated Series Will Be About?
The Bewitched animated reboot will focus on Tabitha, Samantha and Darrin’s daughter, who was also part of the original show. In the new series, she’ll be 13 years old, assisting both a regular middle school and a magical academy to learn how to control her powers. And this is how Hannah Montana and Harry Potter get in the mix.
With Harry Potter, the story created by J.K. Rowling follows the legendary boy who lived during his student years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learning how to use abilities he didn’t even know he had. In Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus not only played the titular pop star, but also her alter ego Miley Stewart, a regular student attending school while trying to hide her other self.
Another good way of describing the show would be comparing it to Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the 90s sitcom starring Melissa Joan Hart, or even Wizards of Waverly Place, both also starring young witches trying to live a normal life while hiding their powers and learning how to use them.
Tabitha also had the chance to tell her story before in 1977 when ABC released a spinoff centered on the character and her brother, Adam as adults. Unfortunately, it only lasted for one season due to some continuity problems related to the original timeline.
