The Magic Is Over For Charmed

After four seasons of magic and mischief, Charmed has come to its ultimate end. It appears that on June 10, we’ll finally be seeing the last of the Vera sisters, Mel (Melonie Diaz) and Maggie (Sarah Jeffery), as the Charmed reboot readies to air its series finale. The original series of the same name ran for eight seasons in the late ’90s and early 2000s, and it appears that the CW’s witchy reimagining will cap out at half of that.

The updated series, which began airing in 2018, follows three sisters who’ve been forced to embrace their newfound magic and mysticism following the untimely passing of their mother. Four seasons later, Charmed is preparing for its own passing on of sorts. The series has had something of a tumultuous streak behind the scenes with regard to its production team. According to Deadline, the series was helmed by several different showrunners during its tenure. Carter Covington (Greek, Faking It) exited the show after Season 1, being replaced by Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro (both of Necessary Roughness) in Season 2. Finally, in Season 4, Jeffrey Lieber, Nicki Renna, and Joey Falco, all of whom serve as executive producers on the show, also took over showrunning duties in what would ultimately become the show’s final season.

Charmed also went through some changes in front of the camera during its run. The main plot of the series kicks off when Mel and Maggie are visited by a mysterious and unknown older sister named Macy (Madeleine Mantock). Their union ultimately leads to the sisters discovering that they’re actually witches; however, the sisters won’t be finishing the series as a power trio. Mantock left the show in the third season after her character died in the Season 3 finale.

Macy was the eldest of the three sisters and met a similar fate to her counterpart from the original series. In the late ’90s iteration of Charmed, Shannen Doherty’s character, Prue, also met her demise at the end of Season 3. Much like Macy, Prue was the oldest of all three sisters, and Doherty, much like Mantock, announced that she would be leaving the show before her character had been killed off on the actual show.

Late May marked the announced end of several CW titles. Charmed got the ax alongside shows like Batwoman; Naomi; Dynasty; Roswell, New Mexico; DC’s Legends of Tomorrow; and Legacies. “I realize the pattern was different from what we have done in years past, so I can see why it has come as a bit of a shock to you and the fans,” said CW CEO Mark Pedowitz, per Deadline. “None of these were easy decisions, we had long conversations with our studios and parent companies and everyone recognized this was a time of transition for The CW.”

He also went on to clarify that the renewal decisions were financial and strategically motivated, and had nothing to do with the actual content being put on screen. “We had an idea early on, which shows could be bubble shows,” he said. “We did not know 100% what would happen, so we tried to encourage all of these producers to treat their finale as if it could be a series finale. We wanted to do the right thing by the series and by the fans.” He did add, however, that it’s the fans as well as the producers who lose out in the wake of these creative decisions.