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Brad Kern, executive producer of The WB's Charmed, told SCI FI Wire that he believes they've created a series with "a canvas that seems to be infinite." "We can paint whatever picture we want to paint," Kern said in an interview. "We can go anywhere we want to go. But it really does start with the characters and the stars, because they are real women, and they are real sisters. At least that's the way we portray them. And they grow up, and as they grow up they experience different things in their lives. Certainly different, 23 versus 30. And that opens up the door for new metaphors and new demons to resonate and challenge them in their next stages of life." Charmed—starring Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan as the witchy Halliwell sisters—is set to begin its eighth season this weekend after a last-minute renewal last season. "We'll have done 178 episodes [by the end of the season]," Kern said. "It's such lofty territory, [especially for] genre shows in prime time. I feel like I've got a nose bleed [laughs]. I think that obviously it's a challenge coming out of the season finale, which was designed in part to be a series finale, in case we weren't going to come back. Because we have come back, it has created some challenges for us. The one thing I know we don't want to do, and we're not going to do, is get out that cheaply or easily." In some ways the sisters will like their new lives better, Kern added. "And they should like it a lot better," he said. "I think that's going to open up more stories for us, because we're able to send the women out into the real world, for really the first time, full time, in seven years. But at the same time they're going to be challenged by what they see around them, which is bad things happening. This season a new character has been added to the cast. He added that he believes it's time for the girls to "pass the baton off, or at least attempt to pass the baton off. It's not going to be an easy baton pass to this new character." Charmed's eighth season premieres on Sept. 25 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. |