Charmed: 5 ways the reboot premiere honored the original series

Tensions were high during the premiere of newly rebooted series, Charmed. Which aspects were the same as the original show and which parts were changed?

As fans begin tuning into the Charmed reboot, which aired its first episode on The CW this past Sunday, those who watched the original will be quick to find a few similarities. There are obvious ones, such as themes of sisterhood and magic, and subtle but important callbacks such as who has what powers and how the sisters are all named. We break down what we’ve noticed is new, and what’s a meaningful throwback to the original Charmed.

A magical family tree

In the very first episode of the Charmed reboot, which aired on The CW last Sunday, Whitelighter adviser Harry reveals sisters Mel, Maggie and Macy are destined to become the most powerful witches in the universe and fight evil entities. During this disclosure, Harry hands Maggie the Book of Shadows, their mother’s chunky spellbook. The book is open on one page titled Melinda Warren. An ancestor who prophesized the birth of three powerful sisters and begun the line of descendants, this reference is the biggest exact detail from the original show, aside from the basic premise of course.

The sisters’ names

Other than the character mentioned above, all of the rebooted characters in the new series of Charmed have different names and personalities to the original show. This decision was most likely in an effort to separate the new characters, and actors, from the original characters, and create completely new individuals. After all, we don’t just want to watch an exact copy of the first interpretation. Whilst the sisters from the first run of the show were all named beginning with the letter P (Prudence, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige), the reboot alters this by naming the sisters starting with M. This may have been an homage to their ancestor, Melinda.

Magical abilities

One of the most exciting features of Charmed has got to be the magical powers and the reboot does tweak the original abilities slightly to make them that bit cooler. Whilst the prophecy remains the same for the most part, with the eldest sister having the power of telekinesis and the middle sister being able to freeze time, it is the youngest sister, Maggie, who is different. In this reboot, Maggie has been blessed with a very different skill to that of the original character she is based on. The initial youngest sister from the first Charmed run, Phoebe, had the power of premonition which came in very handy when preventing terrible events from occurring. Later on in the original show, Phoebe’s abilities developed and she grew to experience the power of levitation and empathy (feeling other people’s feelings).

Empathy is the main link between Phoebe and Maggie here, because, although Maggie can’t predict the future in the new reboot, she can read minds. While this is a completely different power, it does represent the original story. The older sisters have more active and physical powers, and the youngest continues to demonstrate sensitivity and the power of the mind. (Reading minds is also way more useful than premonition in my opinion.)

The power of sisterhood

Another massive difference from the original show is the fact that the oldest sister, Macy, is introduced as a long-lost half-sister. The first run of Charmed began with three full siblings, and when the oldest sister, Prue, is killed off in season 3, a new baby half-sister comes into the picture to join the family and maintain the Power of Three. Paige becomes the sister who can move things with her mind, as well as exhibiting more angelic abilities, passed down from her Whitelighter father.

As Paige starred in Charmed for five seasons compared to Prue who only survived three, Paige is arguably the more memorable character from the show. She has a more interesting backstory, involving the death of her adoptive parents, which led her to discover that her real father was a guardian angel and her mom was a witch. The reboot has notably combined the narratives and identities of both Prue and Paige from the original series to create Macy. Macy is the oldest sister with the power of telekinesis, like Prue, but has a separate childhood and background to her two siblings, like Paige. Discovering who her father was and how he met her mother will be an interesting story to explore for Macy in the new series.

New city, but same beginning

Aside from the setting being changed from San Francisco to a fictional town in Michigan (which was probably a financial choice to avoid filming on location), the basic storyline of the first episode was the same. The mysterious death of the sister’s mother initiates the plot and allows for the girl’s witchy powers to emerge for the first time. With their world turned upside down, the sisters must decide whether to accept their almighty destiny or go back to their normal lives.

What did you like best about the reboot? Put your thoughts in the comments!