Now that the reboot of Charmed is over, it’s time to take a look back at the show’s original fourth season. This season was exciting, from classic villains to the return of beloved characters. This season is great for those wanting to explore the mystical world of Charmed.
The Paige character was not the production team’s first choice.
Executive producer Brad Kern initially wanted to recast the role of Prue after Shannen Doherty left the show. Production approached actresses Tiffani Thiessen and Jennifer Love Hewitt, but both declined. This lead to the choice to permanently kill off Prue and bring in a new character. Charisma Carpenter and Denise Richards were considered for the role of long-lost half-sister Paige Matthews, which eventually went to Rose McGowan.
Fans consider this season the darkest in the series.
The Charmed Ones face the ultimate evil this season, The Source of All Evil. The sisters’ Piper and Phoebe, mourn the loss of Prue at the end of season three. This event sets the stage for the dark themes of death and destruction the sisters must face throughout this season.
Additionally, the sisters must deal with Cole Turner’s return to evil. Cole had been an ally of the Charmed Ones in the past, but in this season, he is taken over by The Source and is set against them. This creates greater tension and fear as the sisters must fight against a former ally. As the season progresses, the danger for the sisters increases as they face off against the Source twice.
Overall, the dark themes of death and destruction, combined with the heightened sense of danger due to Cole’s return to evil, make season four of the original Charmed the darkest-themed in the series.
Despite the dark themes, it’s the season with the least Charmed One deaths.
The Charmed Ones and their allies often die and resurrect in the Charmed universe, so much so that fans kept running death counts for the characters. Surprisingly, season four had the least Charmed One deaths despite being dark-themed. Only one Charmed One suffered temporary death: Piper in episode 17’s “Saving Private Leo.” Fans might remember this as the episode where Piper was stabbed by Leo’s ex-Army comrades and then healed by Leo before her spirit crossed over.
Episode 13 was originally going to be the season finale.
With The Source harnessing the power of The Hollow to consume the sister’s abilities, “Charmed and Dangerous” would have made an exciting set-up for season five that would focus on the storylines that followed afterward. However, changes to the timeline and creative tune-ups of the scripts had production decide to combine the storylines into a single season.