It appears that Netflix’s ‘The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ has found its Big Bad. Richard Coyle has been cast as Father Blackwood, High Priest of the Church of Night and Dean of the Academy of the Unseen Arts. Blackwood hides a “terrifying dark agenda” that puts him in direct conflict with Sabrina, who will be played by Kiernan Shipka, a young half-human, half-witch who is just coming into her own when it comes to her magical powers.
Coyle has an extremely extensive TV career, most recently appearing on the show ‘Hard Sun’, on which coincidentally, his character was named Thom Blackwood. He’s also appeared on ‘Born to Kill’, ‘The Fall’, ‘The Collection’, ‘A.D.: The Bible Continues’ and countless other projects. He has also done numerous films, but unfortunately the most high-profile was the flop ‘Prince of Persia: Sands of Time’.
Also cast on ‘Sabrina’ are Miranda Otto who will play Aunt Zelda, Lucy Davis as Aunt Hilda, Michelle Gomez as Sabrina’s favorite teacher Mary Wardell a.k.a. Madam Satan, Chance Perdomo as Ambrose Spellman and Jaz Sinclair as Sabrina’s best friend Rosalind Walker. Considering Gomez’s character falls under the sway of the forces of darkness, it sounds likely that she and Coyle will share a lot of scenes.
Netflix ordered ‘Sabrina’ straight-to-series with a two season commitment. Each season will consist of 10 episodes. Since casting is still underway, the show hasn’t begun filming yet, so obviously, a release date hasn’t been announced. Netflix always keeps those under wraps until right before they hit anyway.
The pilot was written by ‘Riverdale’ showrunner and executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who also happens to be the chief creative officer of Archie Comics. Aguirre-Sacasa will also direct the pilot. The ‘Riverdale’ exec producers Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, Lee Toland Krieger and Archie Comics CEO Jon Goldwater will be on board for ‘Sabrina’ as well, with Berlanti Productions (based at Warner Brothers) producing.
Source: Deadline
