After a 12-year hiatus, the Power of three is back. Last year, the CW dropped its highly-anticipated “Charmed” reboot, welcoming an entirely new cast— and the all-female production team behind “Jane the Virgin.” Although some fans are ecstatic to have a reimagining of the cult classic, complete with familiar relics like the Book of Shadows and sure-to-be-vanquished characters like The Source of All Evil, others are still true to the original.
The original “Charmed” lasted eight seasons and made an impact on popular culture. In its honor, we have rounded up some surprising facts that casual viewers might not know about the ‘90s hit series.
The Charmed Ones’ powers came from their flaws.
In an interview with InTouch Weekly, creator Constance M. Burge revealed that Prue, Piper, and Phoebe’s magical gifts came from their real-life weaknesses as characters.
“Prue, who is very in her mind, very smart, is someone who it seemed to make sense would have powers that would be mind-related, hence the power of telekinesis,” she explained. “The middle sister always has trouble with time because she’s people-pleasing… [freezing time] felt like a good power for her. And then, because the younger sibling was viewed as having no vision of the future… I thought it would be nice to give the power of premonition to her.”
In other words, Phoebe could see everyone’s future except her own.
Alyssa Milano said she especially loved filming with Julian McMahon.
There’s apparently a reason Phoebe and Cole had such intense chemistry on-screen.
“He is so delicious,” Milano said to E! In an interview. “There’s something very brooding and sexy about him … and his body is just, like … please! I’m sweating just talking about Julian.”
“You can always tell when Julian and Alyssa have a scene together because she comes in in an even better mood,” Doherty joked. “She runs around like ‘I get to kiss Julian!’ We’re like, okay!”
The showrunner of “Charmed” got to keep the legendary Book of Shadows prop, but now the show’s stars want it to be sold for charity.
Brad Kern, the former showrunner of “Charmed,” was fired by CBS in October for allegations of misconduct — and now Combs and Milano are speaking out and asking him to return the iconic prop.
“As many of you know Brad Kern took the original Book of Shadows saying that ‘he and I would share custody of it,'” Combs tweeted in December 2017, when investigations against Kern first went public. “Well, that never happened. So now I encourage Brad Kern to auction the Book and donate proceeds to a woman’s charity.”
Milano seconded this notion. “The original Book of Shadows was promised to Holly,” she told the Cut. “Brad is being investigated for sexual harassment, so if he’s not giving it to Holly, he should auction the Book of Shadows off and give the proceeds to Tarana Burke’s #MeToo Foundation.”
Alyssa Milano loved the Book so much she hired the artist to paint murals at her home.
The Book of Shadows didn’t just have resonance on the show: the actresses loved its striking artwork as well. According to the official “Charmed” Facebook Page, Alyssa Milano liked the drawings in the book so much that she hired the artist to paint murals on her walls at home.
Shannen Doherty was a bridesmaid in Alyssa Milano’s wedding.
It’s well-known that Doherty and Milano didn’t exactly get along on the show, so it may surprise viewers to know that in the early days, the women shared a close bond. Doherty was even a bridesmaid in Milano’s first wedding to Cinjun Tate.
Now, the stars seem to get along yet again as the publicly ended their famous feud.
The actresses had a hand in producing the show.
In a 2017 interview with Variety, Milano revealed just how much she and her co-stars influenced the show behind the camera.
“Holly and I produced the last five years of the show,” she explained. “We didn’t have an on-set producer so Holly and I took on that role. We would make on-set adjustments because there was no one on set to make those adjustments. “
Piper’s second pregnancy was written into the show because Combs was pregnant at the time.
According to Screenrant, the producers tried to hide Combs’ pregnancy for a while before giving into it and writing Chris’ character into the show. It made for a confusing plot twist what with future Chris and present Chris, but being “Charmed,” it worked.
Alyssa Milano wasn’t the original Phoebe.
Lori Rom was actually the first actress cast as Phoebe Halliwell, not Alyssa Milano. But the actress quit after filming the unaired pilot, giving Milano a shot at the role.
You can compare their performances below.
Rose McGowan said she gained weight for the role of Paige.
In her book “Brave,” McGowan revealed that she actually put on weight in order to make herself “look super non-threatening” and win over audiences as Paige Matthews.
“I knew that I had a slim chance at success here,” she wrote of replacing Prue (Shannen Doherty). “People had to fall in love with my character as quickly as possible or ‘Charmed’ would die. I thought about how big the crew was and how they would all be out of a job if I failed. So I made myself look super non-threatening. I gained weight, about 10 pounds, for the role.”
When Prue “died,” Combs said she felt a real sense of loss.
Combs and Doherty were close friends in real life, so when Prue was killed off, Combs said she didn’t have to fake her emotions on-screen.
“For me, there was a definite sense of loss; I was very close with Shannen,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “[Today] we’re filming more grieving after the funeral. It was hard for me to sit in front of the casket. I was like, this is ridiculous! You are asking so much of my psyche right now!”
The two had such a long friendship, they were close before filming ever started on “Charmed.”
The original actresses apparently aren’t thrilled with the reboot.
In fact, when news broke, all three of them seemed unhappy.
“Here’s the thing,” Combs wrote on Twitter. “Until you ask us to rewrite it like Brad Kern did weekly don’t even think of capitalizing on our hard work. ‘Charmed’ belongs to the 4 of us, our vast amount of writers, crews and predominantly the fans. FYI you will not fool them by owning a title/stamp. So bye.”
She also took issue with the new show re-branding itself as feminist, because it seemed to imply that the original was not.
For their parts, Milano said that she wished the original cast had been involved in creating the reboot in some way, and Doherty found the original announcement offensive, saying she wants the show “respected.”
