The fantasy series Charmed is being rebooted this season with an all new cast of sisters who also happen to be witches.
The original version of the show aired for eight seasons, from 1998 to 2006, on the now-defunct WB Network. Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs, and Alyssa Milano played the original three Halliwell sisters, and Rose McGowan was added to the cast in Season 4 as a half-sister.
The 2018 Charmed reboot will make its debut on The CW on October 14. Madeleine Mantock, Melonie Diaz, and Sarah Jeffrey will play half-sisters Macy, Mel, and Maggie, respectively.
What does original series star Doherty, who portrayed Prue Halliwell for Seasons 1 to 3, think about the new version of her beloved series?
“I think it’s great, I think it’s awesome,” she told Entertainment Tonight at the Stand Up to Cancer benefit, which took place in Santa Monica, California, on Friday, September 7.
“I think second lives are amazing, so I’m all for it. I’m happy to see that a show, that back then was all about strong women who supported and loved each other, is now coming back again in this day and age. It’s about female empowerment again — not that that’s something new.”
Doherty’s opinions differ vastly from that of her former co-stars.
In January, Holly Marie Combs said on Twitter that Charmed belongs to the four women from the original series.
“Don’t even think of capitalizing on our hard work,” she wrote.
Four months later, in May, Combs was still unhappy about the new version of the supernatural show hitting airwaves. While she admitted to appreciating the jobs and opportunities the reboot has created, she still doesn’t believe the new Charmed will be a success.
“I will never understand what is fierce, funny, or feminist in creating a show that basically says the original actresses are too old to do a job they did 12 years ago,” Combs said, according to Entertainment Weekly .
She also said that she felt reboots worked better when they honored the original series, and listened to the “passionate fan base.”
Alyssa Milano, who played Phoebe Halliwell, also expressed some anger to the producers of the new version of her hit series.
“I wish that they would have come to us, and we would have been involved since the beginning,” she lamented to Entertainment Tonight in August. “But having said that, I do hope that it reaches the newer generation and impacts that generation the way ours was able to do for its generation.”
Meanwhile, Doherty, who is a cancer survivor, is simply choosing to look at the reboot with more optimism.
“Honestly, I just wish them well — and I hope that everyone just gives them a chance,” the 47-year-old actress told Entertainment Tonight .