Will Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Paige return? 

The showrunner for Charmed’s upcoming reboot says she would “love” if the original cast appeared on the show.

“It would be great, I’d love it, so we’ll see,” she admitted. “You have to dig in and let these characters… let the audience learn who they are and peel away layers.

“Hopefully you want the audience to fall in love with these three women, but that would be a dream.”

Charmed originally aired for eight seasons from 1998-2006, and starred Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan as sister witches, who use their combined “Power of Three” to vanquish demons, warlocks, all evil-dwellers, etc.

At 178 episodes, the show became the longest running hour-long television series featuring all female leads (until it was surpassed by Desperate Housewives in 2012) and the second-longest drama broadcast by The WB network.

The show developed a cult following, and is often described by critics as one of the most influential television shows of all time.

Ever since the reboot was announced, it’s received universal backlash from fans – and old cast members.

Combs – who played Piper Halliwell in the original – has been particularly outspoken. When the reboot was deemed a “fierce, funny and feminist” version of the show, she slammed the network.

She tweeted: “I will never understand what is fierce, funny, or feminist in creating a show that basically says the original actresses are too old to do a job they did 12 years ago.”

And last week, Milano – who portrayed Phoebe Halliwell –  told Entertainment Tonight: “I wish that they would have come to us and we would have been involved since the beginning.

“Having said that, I do hope that it reaches the newer generation and impacts that generation the way ours was able to do for its generation.”

She also revealed that she was unlikely to reprise her role, because “that ship has sailed”.

The controversial reboot will premiere on The CW network on 14 October.

Like the original, it will follow three sister witches – played by Madeleine Mantock, Melonie Diaz and Sarah Jeffrey – who discover their magical ancestry.

The series will feature an LGBTQ character in Mel Pruitt (Diaz), a “strong-willed feminist” lesbian in her mid-20’s with a police detective girlfriend called Soo-Jin.

Mel – like Piper – can stop time. Macy (Mantock), the oldest sister, is telekinetic, while Madison (Jeffrey) can hear people’s thoughts – which differs from Phoebe’s primary power of premonition.

Watch the first official trailer for The CW’s upcoming Charmed reboot below:

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