‘Charmed’ Team Talks Exploring Brujeria and ‘Current Issues

[Jean]

variety.com/2018/tv/news/charmed-brujeria-ability-to-read-minds-leading-with-issues-1202933972/

And the press tour continues it seems.

The culture of the world in which the CW’s reboot of “Charmed” is being written, as well as the cultural backgrounds of its three Latinx lead characters, will heavily influence the new supernatural drama.



“We have a real Latinx witch in our writers’ room,” executive producer Amy Rardin said at the Paley Fall TV Preview in Beverly Hills, Calif. Saturday. “Every culture has their own witchcraft traditions, and we really wanted to explore not just from a Salem witchcraft but all kinds of different witchcraft that happens all around the world.”



The reboot will showcase brujería, Latinx witchcraft, as the sisters (played by Melonie Diaz, Sarah Jeffrey and Madeleine Mantock) explore the magical abilities they discover they have in the series premiere. For audiences familiar with the late-1990s version of the show, there will be a unique power among this new group of sisters. Jeffrey’s character, Maggie Vera, will be able to read minds. In the original series, the youngest sister (played by Alyssa Milano) received the power of premonition instead.



This new power has a dual purpose as a storytelling device.


“[Maggie] is 18. So, [she’s] at a time when you’re worried about what everyone thinks about you,” explained Rardin.



And O’Toole added, “We didn’t want to make it too easy for them to solve things with magic, so I think we pulled back a little, which doesn’t mean that the power won’t evolve. Based on the original, the powers do evolve so that’s something we’ve had in the back of our minds as something we could get to.”



But the show is also taking time to “organically show the women handling current issues, without lecturing the audience,” said O’Toole. “Even before the election, we always wanted to explore that link between strong women and witchcraft.”



Mantock said that touching on these topics is necessary “because in this day and age you have to be upfront about which side you’re on.” Although she admitted that when you’re talking about something entertaining, “you want to just be fun,” she said she is glad the they are “leading” with issues “because it shows people what kind of people we are.”



In addition to Rardin and O’Toole, Jennie Snyder Urman, “Jane the Virgin” creator and showrunner, also serves as executive producer.



“Charmed” premieres Oct. 14 on the CW.

[BettyNewbie]

“We have a real Latinx witch in our writers’ room,” executive producer Amy Rardin said at the Paley Fall TV Preview in Beverly Hills, Calif. Saturday. “Every culture has their own witchcraft traditions, and we really wanted to explore not just from a Salem witchcraft but all kinds of different witchcraft that happens all around the world.”

The reboot will showcase brujería, Latinx witchcraft, as the sisters (played by Melonie Diaz, Sarah Jeffrey and Madeleine Mantock) explore the magical abilities they discover they have in the series premiere. For audiences familiar with the late-1990s version of the show, there will be a unique power among this new group of sisters. Jeffrey’s character, Maggie Vera, will be able to read minds. In the original series, the youngest sister (played by Alyssa Milano) received the power of premonition instead.

This is good to see. Trying to showcase Wicca and Celtic witchcraft (even Charmed's botched version of it) wouldn't work as well with a Latina cast. The show's magic should reflect the sisters' heritage, and it'd also be nice to see non-European forms of witchcraft gain more exposure.

And O’Toole added, “We didn’t want to make it too easy for them to solve things with magic, so I think we pulled back a little, which doesn’t mean that the power won’t evolve. Based on the original, the powers do evolve so that’s something we’ve had in the back of our minds as something we could get to.”

This is also good to see. Deus ex machina solutions for everything were a huge problem on the original show, especially after the first 2-3 seasons. It eventually got to the point where the sisters could barely do anything without Leo and Paige's orbing and healing abilities, and everybody became so overpowered that they had to be made stupider for there to even still be any drama and conflict.

[Tim]

Deus ex machina solutions for everything were a huge problem on the original show, especially after the first 2-3 seasons. It eventually got to the point where the sisters could barely do anything without Leo and Paige's orbing and healing abilities, and everybody became so overpowered that they had to be made stupider for there to even still be any drama and conflict.

Oh tell me about it.  Heck, it was that walking deus ex machina, Leo, that defeated Rex and Hannah, not the sisters themselves. 

I think it's safe to assume that the reboot will avoid repeating these mistakes.

[nightowl]

Another thing I'm surprised that the actress playing Macy who is British, didn't get to keep her accent.

They could have had Macy living in England when her mother sent her away far away even beyond America for protection or for whatever reasons she had to give her up. That would add yet another layer of diversity in a way, not all the sisters were raised even in America.

[Melinda Halliwell]

That would've been good certainly which I'm not saying so just because I'm British or anything.

[Tim]

I'm surprised that the actress playing Macy who is British

She's also black and has some Latino blood in her. 

Of course, the CW does have a few Brits, Aussies, and Kiwis, in their shows playing Americans (Rose McIver, of I Zombie, is actually from New Zealand).

[BettyNewbie]

This Rachel True interview from 2017 reminded me of why Reboot Charmed's casting is so important.

In a wide-ranging interview about the 1996 cult classic film about teenage witches, True told TooFab that "Charmed" -- a popular WB TV series that premiered in 1998 and ran until 2006 -- "kind of was" a rip off of "The Craft."

"They used the same font, they used the same song, and Aaron Spelling -- bless his heart -- but he's not the most 'let's put black people in my stuff,' so he made them sisters, so they didn't have to put a black girl on, that's my theory," True told TooFab.

Cynical as it may sound, she probably wasn't far off the mark. Back in the 90s, people of color just didn't star in shows that weren't so-called "urban" sitcoms. It wasn't just Charmed, but also its contemporaries -- Buffy, Angel, Dawson's Creek, Felicity, Roswell, Gilmore Girls, and many others. It was such a pervasive trend that Mad TV even made a skit about it.

It's not "political correctness" for the reboot to have a more diverse cast. It's doing what the TV shows of 1998 were unwilling to do.

True, who still acts on top of having her own tarot card reading business, told TooFab that getting the role of Rochelle took some convincing, due to a combination of her age and race.

"I know it sounds weird now, but back then it was sort of like, 'Here's a black movie,' and it was about someone in the hood, and 'Here's a white movie' over there,'" she said. "When I read for [the casting director] she called me up and said, 'Rachel, there's this film you have to read for,' so I called my agent and said, 'Would you get me in on this?' And they said, 'No, you're too old,' and I was like, 'No, I'm not. If anyone's going to be a little black witch in this town, it's going to be me.'"

"They weren't sure if they were going to go ethnic, but I'm glad they did because so very many young ethnic girls of all backgrounds have come to me and said, 'It was very cool that someone who kind of, sort of looked like me was in that group and in that movie,'" True said.

True's character in The Craft was originally intended to be white, but she tried out for the role anyways and successfully convinced TPTB to rewrite the character as black.

And, thanks to that decision, more teen girls of color watched The Craft and took up an interest in witchcraft and paganism than they otherwise would've, all because they saw a witch who looked more like them in that movie. Considering how many other TV/Movie witches, both past and present, were all white, it was a big deal that there was something out there that had a black witch in it -- and one who was neither a villain or a victim.

Representation is important. Some teen girl of color is going to watch the new Charmed and discover a newfound love for witchcraft, all because she saw witches who looked more like her on TV. Some Latina girl who feels shame and ostracization because of her race is going to watch the new Charmed and feel empowered because she sees women like her being badass heroes.

[Tim]

I agree, that the leads will not be all white.

Representation is important. Some teen girl of color is going to watch the new Charmed and discover a newfound love for witchcraft, all because she saw witches who looked more like her on TV. Some Latina girl who feels shame and ostracization because of her race is going to watch the new Charmed and feel empowered because she sees women like her being badass heroes.

Teen girls of colour are finally going to see representation on television, and Charmed is a good way to do it.  Give girls of colour lead roles and you're setting a good example. 

This is why I want the reboot to succeed. 

[BettyNewbie]

As Rachel True cynically joked, the original Charmed ripped off The Craft and "made them sisters, so they didn't have to put a black girl on." People fondly look back on late 90s/early 00s WB shows, but they were white as hell. Black and brown people were lucky to even get token side roles (aka. Darryl Morris), but most of the time, they either didn't appear at all or only appeared in cliched, throwaway roles.

With its diverse casting, the reboot is correcting a very big mistake that was made with the original show.

[Tim]

Yeah, it will be good to see minority characters in the lead roles, instead of being a token character, or, worse, an Ensign Deadmeat.

And we have a lesbian as well.  The only lesbian we saw on the original series was an Ensign Deadmeat, another Innocent that the sisters lost, and didn't give a damned about.

[BettyNewbie]

One (happy) irony of Rachel True's statements about the original Charmed is that one of the reboot sisters (Macy) IS black despite the other two not being so:



The new sisters are not only Latina, but also a mixed-race family. This Charmed isn't "cutting out the black character" and using genetics as an excuse.

(And, given how vastly underrepresented Afro-Latinos are compared to even other Latinos, it's especially important that one of the new Charmed Ones is a black Latina.)

[Tim]

The reboot is clearly aiming for a modern audience. 

As I said, it's nice to see minorities cast as lead characters.  Something you didn't see much of, twenty years ago.

[Melinda Halliwell]

Well the Metoo movement wasn't around then of course.

[Tim]

Well the Metoo movement wasn't around then of course.

This is the name of the movement that brought down Kernus, Les Moonves, and The Monster, right?