On 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,' she plays the titular character's (Kiernan Shipka) nemesis, a witch called Prudence.
- Oct 27, 2018
AceShowbiz - Actress Tati Gabrielle was freaked out performing spells on the new "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" reboot because they used real Wiccan rituals on set.
Former "Mad Men" star Kiernan Shipka takes on the titular half-witch role in the revamped show, titled The "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina", with Tati cast as her nemesis, a witch called Prudence.
The role was a little out of character for Tati as "The 100" actress isn't a fan of the horror genre, and she was "genuinely terrified" filming some of the scenes for the Netflix project.
"(I'm) horrible when it comes to horror things," she told The Wrap. "Like, Jurassic Park's not even a horror film and I couldn't even watch it until I was 16 just because I was so terrified."
One particular scene in the new series really left Tati spooked, because the spells she and her co-star Adeline Rudolph had to chant weren't made up.
"It gave me literal chills," she shared. "A lot of the spells and things that we do are actually real spells that they've pulled from, like, the Wiccan faith. It was kind of, like, wild to... be in like a literal ritual with real symbols everywhere and real spells happening."
Thankfully, Tati and her fellow cast and crewmembers didn't experience any strange occurrences after shooting the rituals, but it was still creepy just to be on the set alone.
"We've never had like, Exorcist-type incidents or like weird things happening around the set, like thank God," she said. "(But) if I have to cross through one (set) to get to another, and I'm by myself, I will literally, like, run, terrified, through the set and to the next one."
The experience left Tati anxious each day, so she made a conscious effort to lighten the mood when she got home.
"Some of those nights, I would go home and watch 'Family Guy' for a bit," she revealed. "And just kind of decompress, get back on the lighter side of life. (I'd tell myself) 'It's not real, it's not real, you're gonna be fine!'."
Season one of The "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" premiered on Friday, October 26.
The show is the latest adaptation of the Archie Comics graphic novel of the same name. It was previously turned into a more light-hearted TV hit with the 1990s sitcom "Sabrina the Teenage Witch", in which Melissa Joan Hart portrayed the title character.
