Netflix series has legal dispute with Satanic Temple

By Sarah Fischer

Sabrina Spellman returns in the newly released holiday episode of the Netflix series, “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” and on Dec. 18, Netflix confirmed on its Instagram page that the series will continue for three more seasons, which will be called parts.

Part two will air on Apr. 5 and will be “a lot sexier than season one,” said creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa during an interview with E! News on Dec. 18.

Aguirre-Sacasa also said part two is going to have more of a focus on Sabrina’s witch-life rather than her mortal one, which wasn’t the case in season 1 as Sabrina struggled to retain a connection with her mortal friends while simultaneously living as a witch.

Although season 2 is nearing the end of filming and has a set release date, some major changes to the rest of the series might be expected as a result of the recent legal action taken against Netflix and Warner Bros.

In late October, Lucien Greaves, co-founder and spokesperson for The Satanic Temple announced on Twitter that the temple would be “taking legal action regarding #TheChillingAdventuresofSabrina appropriating our copyrighted monument design to promote their asinine Satanic Panic fiction,” and soon after posted comparison pictures of the two statues which were nearly identical.

Originally, the temple sought $150 million from the film companies for trademark violation, copyright infringement and injury to the organization’s reputation, but recently the suit has been “amicably settled,” according to the group in a released statement about the lawsuit.

The temple has received $50 million along with an agreement regarding the statue which acknowledges the temple’s rights to it in the credits of the episodes that have already been filmed.

Though the details of the suit remain confidential, the temple’s strong opinion of the series’ negative portrayal of Satanism was apparent while the lawsuit was still pending.

Greaves’ comment about “Satanic Panic fiction,” referred to a rise in adverse representation of Satanism throughout the 80s, and the temple claimed the Sabrina series was contributing to that representation.

The show’s creator has not disputed the temple’s claims, nor has he given any indication as to whether or not they will change the path the series has taken.