Charmed not returning for a fifth season on The CW

In a move reminiscent of the Red Wedding, The CW has canceled over half of its scripted programming from the 2021-2022 season. One of those canceled shows is its Charmed reboot, which is currently in the middle of airing its fourth, and now final, season.

Earlier this year, it was reported via a memo from CW CEO Mark Pedowitz that ViacomCBS and Warner Bros. would be exploring the sale of The CW, their joint network. This sale prompted rampant speculation, including which shows would be lost in the crossfire.

In March of this year, The CW renewed only a handful of their scripted series, including the likes of Riverdale, Superman & Lois, and Nancy Drew, and indicated more renewals to come later in the year.

Unfortunately, instead of dealing out renewals, the network gave nearly half of their shows their pink slip.

Charmed, which had just gone through a major shift behind the scenes with both a new set of showrunners and a new lead, had only just begun to find new life in its fourth season, which makes this news even more upsetting. Following this show weekly throughout season 4 has been a joy, and it’s been incredible to watch the series revitalize itself.

With only a few more episodes left, it’s sad to think that we will never see the Charmed Ones ever again.

In an effort to reassure the fanbase, the Charmed writers room tweeted that, when writing their fourth season, “wrote towards closure,” and won’t leave fans hanging. While it’s reassuring that the writers were looking out for their fanbase, it will undoubtedly still be a very sad day when Charmed airs its final episode.

For better or for worse, Charmed was a show fans could always count on to have as much camp as it had heart, and truly offered up a great story every season. The show was also an important element in the representation of both Black and Latina women in leading roles, as well as an important representation of the LGBTQ community.

While The CW has always been a place for the “little shows that could,” to thrive, that’s clearly not the reality anymore, and it’s devastating that Charmed, along with so many others, were the first victims of this cold, new CW network.

Charmed airs new episodes Fridays at 8/7c, streaming the next day free on The CW app.