The CW’s Charmed has a new trio of “Charmed Ones” in front of the camera as Lucy Barrett‘s Kaela joins Melonie Diaz (Mel) and Sarah Jeffery (Maggie) on the show…. but, behind the scenes, there’s also a new Charmed trio in the new showrunning team of Jeffery Lieber, Nicki Renna, and Joey Falco.
As a new episode titled “You Can’t Go Home Again” airs tonight (March 18) at 8PM ET/PT on The CW, KSiteTV’s Craig Byrne had the opportunity to speak with the new Charmed showrunners about their love of the show, new situations for the Charmed Ones, and more, including some talk about a connection to the original series. You can see Part 1 of the interview below, and more is coming next week!
Can you introduce yourselves and also share what makes Charmed a special show and franchise to you?
JEFFREY LIEBER: The thing that is sort of amazing about the show, and specifically this season that we’re launching, is [that] it’s able to do two things at one time, which is one, embrace this “anything can happen,” wacky [vibe]… in the first episode of the season, we turned one of our characters into a [paper] cutout, and we sort of embraced the idea that once an episode, we’re going to do something that weird, and fun, and like, “what the hell is going on?” And in the same show, we get to deal with real human things, which is about the connection between sisters, and in this case, how one returns from grief after something horrible happens. There are very few shows that allow you both of those palettes at the same time time, which is incredible creativity on the one side, and a grounded human storytelling on the other.
NICKI RENNA: I come from three girls. Sisters are very important. What I love about this, that is really special to me, is that we have a show about three women that are our leads, but also that they’re sisters, which to me is the juiciest, stickiest sort of inter dynamics amongst characters that you can set up, because to me, there’s just nothing like the power of sisters and their connection. And, we’re exploring not only their relationship between these three women, but they’re exploring their power, both in the real world and in the magical world, in a way that really feels real, complicated, compelling, entertaining, and emotional.
JOEY FALCO: As someone who kind of came of age as a teenager during the late 90s, obsessively watching Buffy and Charmed when it came out, and shows like that, it’s always been a dream to write for a show in this wheelhouse: this funny, dramatic, emotional, supernatural series. It’s now been four years on this show. It’s been a total dream to finally do that, and then with this season, to do it in a way that’s even more personal than ever, with Jeff and Nicki and I at the at the helm of it. It’s a total dream.
Can you talk about how Kaela has changed the dynamic of the show?
JEFFREY: It’s been a revelation. Over the summer, the three of us took the helm and started talking about new character was. We were all committed to making sure that whatever the new energy was, it was fun. And then we got on the casting process and found Lucy [Barrett].
It’s just amazing when somebody comes into your world, who so embodies the spirit that you want on the show. It’s changed everybody. It’s been amazing to watch the five core actors come together, but it’s also been amazing to see what happens when you drop in something very, very different. It changes everybody else.
We’ve gotten to do scenes this year that are so different than anything that’s happened before, that are so fresh, and that really embrace this idea of “who you are is often defined by who you’re connected to.” And so, to bring in this person who is not of the magic world… Mel, Maggie and Macy were all of a certain type of person, and in bringing this girl from Philadelphia, who’s a mechanic and an artist… it just changed everybody, and by the way, it’s affected the way the set runs. We have such a good time now. That’s been been so much fun.
What do you think it will take for Harry to be happy again, because we’re going through a “broody Harry” stage as the season begins?
NICKI: When are we not going through a “broody Harry” stage?
We asked ourselves the same question at the top of this season, when we were getting together and talking about [the season]. The thing that’s obviously the most difficult is that he’s just lost the love of his life, so we really want to honor that and help show that journey of exploring that grief, and that trauma, and what that means for him. But it was also very important to us that that’s not all of his journey. That’s not all this characters about. It was really time to define Harry Greenwood separately from the Charmed Ones and from Macy. That’s really what we’ve been trying to do this season, and I think that people will be really shocked and surprised at the places we take him in order for him to sort of find what that identity is and what his purpose is, but he will find it.
Can you talk about Maggie’s turn into “Maggie the Demon Slayer” mode, and is that her way of coping, much like “Kiss and Tell Mel” would be?
JOEY: Yes, exactly. With Maggie, we’re doing a ,ind of reversal with Mel and Maggie, based on sort of how they both responded to their mother’s death in the pilot versus how they’re responding to Macy’s death now in Season 4, and we’re seeing Maggie turn sort of inward and become unable to process the grief of it, and because of that, she’s looking out, and she’s having this terrible, awful, unhealthy coping mechanism, which is violence, and the easiest victim for that violence is the demon population, because there’s no victim there when she’s out there doing it.
We’re see her go to some really dark places that she struggles to get past that, and as Jordan struggles to be sort of the unwilling partner in that situation. What does that mean for their relationship, if he’s realizing she’s unhealthy, and she’s not really listening to reason? How do you, as a partner in a relationship like that… how do you get your partner over that grief? That’s going to be their struggle and their journey for a really significant part of the season.
And will we be seeing the surviving Charmed Ones’ powers continue to evolve?
JEFFREY: Yes. Each Charmed One gets the major upgrade, and they’re really fun. We will not tell you what they are, but they’re coming. The ones that will say we just that Mel’s power upgrade comes out of her trying to turn backwards and reconnect with who she was in Season 1, which is a Time Witch, and in her attempts to figure out how to get back to those original powers, that’s the doorway into what’s next for her.
We have three very versatile actresses and we’re trying as hard as possible to lean into the things that they love to do. Part of our going to to Maggie as a fighter is that is that Sarah is such an adept physical actress, and so we were like, “okay, how do we use that?” In sum, everybody gets a power upgrade this season, and they all come as a surprise to them along the way.
Speaking of going back, I know that Joey Falco wrote and Rupert Evans directed an upcoming episode called “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Sandwich.” How far in the past, exactly, are the Charmed Ones going to go?
JOEY: I don’t know that we’re going to say exactly where they go with this episode, but I will say it was inspired by Sarah Jeffery, who over the summer specifically requested to go back to this particular period. In that spirit, we came up with this episode to do that. It ends up being a whole lot of fun, and it was a absolute blast to make, and everyone had a lot of fun doing it, but I’m not going to say where they go, just yet.
Can you talk about the bar and how it introduces new possibilities for the show, especially as far as weird creatures go?
NICKI: I would have to say that the bar is hands-down probably one of our favorite new elements of this season. In addition to just being visually stunning… our crew just really killed it… we were so excited about it, because it really opens up our world. We’ve been really wanting to do that for for a while now, in terms of showing other elements in the magical world, with communities of creatures.
This bar sort of a neutral ground. It’s where anyone can come and grab a drink, or go on a date, and have fun and know that for the most part, they’re not going to run into any kind of conflict or be from anyone else. So people from every single magical community could come and we see that and we’ll get to see that it’s really sort of a colorful, very visual display of all the creatures as the season goes on.
Inevitably, it’s also a place where things are going to go down, because Roxy is involved, – she has her hand in a lot of different cookie jars -and we end up bringing a lot of the action and the conflict there. It’s a really fun, cool place where you’re gonna see everything from big singing numbers, to explosive fights, to love scenes… it’s a backdrop for everything.
JOEY: And we should say, our art team led by Production Designer Ken Rempel and Set Decorator Alida Jung, they went to town on this bar, and designed something beyond our wildest dreams. It’s just been a fantasy to step into it and see this place that they built. We are just so lucky to have that art department working on the show.
JEFFREY: Behind the scenes, you don’t realize how many questions come up when you create a bar full of magical creatures. Eevery department came to us and said, “well, what about this, or that? Who has horns? How do we deal with that? What kind of drinks are they?” At the end of the season, the three of us are gonna go franchise this out and just take it out in the world, because we’ve now learned more about running a magical bar than anyone would ever want to know.
We’re coming up on the 25-year anniversary of the original Charmed. If the show gets a fifth season, can we look forward to any sort of tribute to that anniversary?
JOEY: I think people should stay tuned to what happens this season, and hope for the best.
JEFFREY: We are committed to putting the universes together, whether it be this season or next.
JOEY: I think people who enjoy the original show will not be disappointed by the end of this season.
What do you most hope fans get out of watching Charmed Season 4?
JEFFREY: As I said earlier, this season is a real combination of the things that worked in the first three seasons, and then us three adding our completely wacky take on things. The hope is that this season is filled with surprises, and fun ones, that cause the people who’ve been with us for three seasons to go, “oh my God, I remember that!” and for the people who are new to the show to be surprised and thrilled along the way.
NICKI: I want to echo that. We really wanted to honor and have fun with the show, as a series, and make sure that there were callbacks, and we tie things together, and we sort of clean things up, so that’s definitely going to be there. The other thing I would add is that I think that from an emotional standpoint, from the character journeys that that we put our characters on the season, I really hope that people watch the show and they can relate to what our girls and Harry and Jordan are going through in a way that sort of that helps them, or that makes them not feel alone, or that makes them realize that “I’m not the only one.” We’re dealing with themes of not only grief and trauma, but family, and re-emerging into a new phase of your life having to figure out who you are after either a loss or after a period of searching, and I think that we’re doing it in a way that’s complicated and messy, but also hopeful, so I hope that people watch the season and can really find something that speaks to them and helps them in their life.
JOEY: That’s beautiful. I think those are terrific answers. I just hope it doesn’t suck.
A new episode of Charmed called “You Can’t Go Home Again” airs TONIGHT – check out some photos here – and return to KSiteTV next week for Part 2 of this interview!
