4 things we need in the final season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

As the final season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina approaches, we have some ideas about what we need to see by the time the final credits roll.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina will return for its final run of episodes later this month – and it’s hard to know precisely what to expect.

According to promotional materials, “Part 4” will see a series of something called the Eldritch Terrors descend on Greendale, with freakish terrifying names like The Weird, The Returned, and The Darkness…all leading up to the arrival of one known simply as The Void, which is The End of All Things.

There are also certainly plenty of dangling story threads that need resolution and closure – from the fact that two Sabrinas exist now to Madame Satan’s pregnancy and tenuous position in the Dark Lord’s court. Plus the whole Nick/Sabrina relationship situation, and whatever is still lingering between her and Harvey.

But before the season – and, sadly, the series – ends, there are few things we definitely need to see.

Real consequences for Sabrina

Throughout the course of the series thus far, we’ve seen Sabrina Spellman make a rash of poor choices, culminating in her decision to essentially clone herself at the end of last season by playing with the rules of time travel. Yet, somehow, no matter what happens – things for Sabrina seem to turn out just fine.

No matter how you feel about the fact that Chilling Adventures of Sabrina unexpectedly ending, one thing is clear: It’s time for Sabrina to actually learn from her mistakes. To face some legitimate consequences of her choices, and to understand that sometimes even she has to follow the rules the same way that everyone else does. The idea that she gets to constantly have things both ways is exhausting and has prevented her character from achieving anything like real growth.

Let Sabrina Spellman at least feel like a heroine we can root for again before the end.

Justice for Madame Satan

At the beginning of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Part Three, Madame Satan – also known as Lilith – is fully ensconced on the throne of Hell, having achieved the dream of deposing Lucifer and installing herself in his place. But by the end of it, she’s lost everything, having served as a glorified babysitter to Sabrina for the bulk of the season and ultimately ending it as little more than a broodmare for the Dark Lord who so abused her.

This isn’t the ending that such a complicated female antagonist deserves, and before the final credits on Chilling Adventures roll, we deserve to see her – not triumph, exactly, but at least reclaim her own agency and power.

Happiness for Zelda Spellman

While obviously, both Spellman aunts are incredible, poor Zelda has had the worst of things over the course of the series. From her relationship with the awful Faustus Blackwood to the destruction of the Church of Night and the loss of the faith that once sustained her, Zelda has repeatedly been through it on this show. She deserves some shred of happiness before the final credits roll – and some acknowledgment of what a quiet hero she’s been throughout the course of the show.

Whether that happiness will come from her budding relationship with Mambo Marie, or from her newfound openness to and respect for people with beliefs different from her own, or from the family she loves more than anything is anyone’s guess.

Something that feels like a real ending

The decision to end Chilling Adventures of Sabrina seems like a fairly sudden choice – personally, I definitely expected the series to continue on well past “Part 4”, especially given that in real numbers, the show has only shot about two full seasons’ worth of episodes and the news of its end came right on the heels of Katy Keene’s cancellation at The CW.

So, in light of all that, what we most from this now-final season is a sense of an ending. To feel like the story actually concludes instead of simply stops – or, worse, leaves plot threads dangling with no hope of ever getting answers to them. Whatever the conclusion of Sabrina Spellman’s story, and whatever the fate of Greendale, fans deserve just that – a real ending.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Part 4 premieres on Netflix on December 31.