‘Charmed’ Reboot Gets New Showrunner for Season 2

Back in January, The CW announced that it had renewed its Charmed reboot for a second season, but the series will see some changes in its sophomore season. The series’ current showrunner, Carter Covington, has exited Charmed and will be replaced by husband and wife time Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro — with the pair set to take the series in a new creative direction for Season 2.

Reported by Deadline, Covington’s exit will see the show move away from the family dynamic focus that has been a hallmark of its first season and ,under Kruger and Shapiro’s guidance, will lean more into supernatural storylines. Covington, who was originally brought on to help creators Jessica O’Toole and Amy Rardin, a pair of Jane the Virgin writers who had never run a show before) reportedly split amicably with the series.

Kruger and Shapiro have an overall production deal with CBS TV Studios and previously co-created the series Salvation along with Matt Wheeler. They also produced and served as co-showrunners on CBS’ Extant, which starred Halle Berry.

Starring Melonie Diaz, Sarah Jeffery, and Madeleine Mantock as three sisters who discover that they are powerful witches following their mother’s death, received its renewal in January along with nine of the other shows in The CW’s slate. The series is a reboot of the cult classic 1998-2006 series of the same name which starred Alyssa Milano, Holly Marie Combs, Shannen Doherty and Rose McGowan. While the series was met with some backlash from fans of that original WB/CW series — including comments from Combs herself expressing displeasure with the reboot — the series has held fairly steady in the ratings.

While the series does have many similarities to the original, it has also carved out its own place, something that Mantock addressed at San Diego Comic Con last year, noting that the show is not a “rip off” of the original, but new characters in a new world, with new adventures.

“We’re new characters living in a world,” Mantock said. “It’s a new set of witches who’ve discovered they have powers. I think it’s maybe a misconception to say it’s a rip-off. I saw somebody yesterday describe it as a tribute to [the original] and I thought that was quite nice.”

Charmed is currently in its first season. It airs Sunday nights, after Supergirl, at 9/8 on The CW.

Are you curious to see what direction Charmed goes in for its second season? Let us know in the comments below.