"Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" Star Tati Gabrielle Talks Giving Depth to Prudence, the Baddest Witch in Greendale
Mild spoilers for Season 1 of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina will follow.
To hear Tati Gabrielle tell it, she’s “the biggest baby” when it comes to anything remotely horror-related. “I couldn’t watch Jurassic Park until I was 16, and that’s not even a horror film,” she tells Teen Vogue with an infectious laugh. This is a surprising admission, considering that on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Netflix’s new gothic coming-of-age series, she plays Prudence, one of the baddest witches in Greendale and the arch nemesis of the eponymous heroine, with such unyielding confidence.
From the moment we first meet Prudence, donning her signature short, ice blonde hair, and a deep purple button-up dress with lace trim, we instantly know she is not to be messed with. As the leader of the Weird Sisters, she quickly sizes up Sabrina and puts a curse on her. It’s quite a departure from her role as Gaia on The CW’s The 100 — Prudence has a much more wicked, sinister touch.
But that’s one of the things Tati loves about the role. “Prudence gives me strength,” she says.“When I’m doing these things, I have to become Prudence, because Prudence can handle it. Tati can’t.”
Throughout the show’s first season, “these things” include summoning Sabrina’s (Kiernan Shipka) boyfriend’s brother Tommy (Justin Dobies) back from the dead and simultaneously helping her kill her own sister Agatha (Adeline Rudolph). It also entails checking Sabrina whenever she tries to challenge her and even basking at the center of a tantalizing witch orgy. Beneath her badass exterior, though, Prudence hides an insecurity stemming from her childhood and an angst around the fact that she has to contend with a rival who’s only half witch and not a model Satan worshiper like herself. The character’s many complexities presented a challenge that Tati was more than happy to take on.
“It is clear that Prudence’s viciousness is coming from a place of rage and a deep hurt. When I found out that she’s an orphan who’s never been claimed, it started to make sense,” she explains. “And if you think about the way witches were treated by mortals during the Salem Witch Trials, [you understand why] she holds a very personal grudge against Sabrina for what she is as opposed to who she is. I wanted to be able to give Prudence depth and not just have her be an everyday mean girl.”
And that shows throughout her performance, which also confronts important social themes that have too often been missing from witch narratives that include the original 1990s series Sabrina, The Teenage Witch. Though the Melissa Joan-Hart-led comedy boasted a female protagonist, it lacked intersectional feminism. Netflix’s Chilling, however, thrives on the diversity of its female cast, which is helped grounded by the complicated relationship between Prudence and Sabrina.
“It’s beautiful to see all these women, who are different colors and sizes and shapes, come together and reflect what I think is happening in the world right now. It’s been an honor for me to portray that kind of sisterhood and really drive home the message that women have power,” Tati says. “We’re fighting for our sisterhood and making sure that that remains strong above everything else. I love that Prudence can have her differences with Sabrina, but when it comes to standing up for women, that’s where they connect. She’s going to fight with her in that battle.”
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In fact, it is a shared conflict with their faith that brings them together. As Sabrina struggles to come to terms with Satanic values that clash with her mortal and feminist instincts, Prudence’s devotion is put to the ultimate test once she learns that Father Blackwood (Robert Coyle), High Priest of the Church of Night, is her biological father and willing to let her be sacrificed as part of a Satanic ritual she’s been taught to be proud of — one that has massacred so many witches before them. It’s a pivotal moment for Prudence, and for so many strong, devout young women like her, that forces her to confront the beliefs she’s held as she comes into her own identity.
“Because she’s devoted her entire life to [her faith], Prudence has to find a way to make sense of this. When people lose their faith in God or whatever it is they believe in, you see their worlds fall apart,” Tati explains. “But because Prudence is so strong and resilient, she refuses to let that happen. It doesn’t change who she is or what she is. While it hurts her in that moment, she immediately bounces back with ‘How do I redirect this? How do I think about this again and be OK?’”
Prudence’s conviction in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles is channeled directly from Tati herself who is also committed to what she believes in and refuses to back down. That sense of principle is something that was also inspired by Gabrielle’s mother, who like Prudence, was an orphan.
“I thought a lot about that as I was creating Prudence — the feeling of being somewhat isolated and standing strong about who she believes she is,” she recounts. “My mom is one of the strongest people I know. I grew up seeing her as one of my superheroes.”
She may not wear a cape or wield a lasso, but Prudence is bold in her own right. Through Tati’s empathetic performance, Prudence’s cold-hearted exterior is peeled back to reveal a smart, self-reliant young woman — whether it’s when she’s calling upon dark forces using haunting spells or reveling in carnal pleasures. Tati admits, “It’s been a very liberating experience playing Prudence with such sexuality and sensuality. Like, I am woman, hear me roar!”
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