May the Magic be With You

By Mary-Ann Russon • UrbanWire
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Hit TV series Charmed returns to our screens this week for a thrilling 6th season, and you can expect plenty of mystery, intrigue, angst, laughter, and magic for the next 21 weeks to come. Here's the 4-1-1 on everything Charmed to get you prepared for the big bang on August 18.

Show Overview
What You Can Look Forward To This Season
Our Verdict

Show Overview

Originally created by writer Constance M. Burge in 1998, Charmed is about 3 sisters living in San Francisco, California, who discover that they are the Charmed Ones, the most powerful witches in the world. Together, they use "the Power of 3" and the Book of Shadows to fight demons and save "innocents", on top of dealing with their daily lives, love,careers, and finding out more about themselves and the world they live in.

What You Can Look Forward To This Season

Here's a look at the main cast of Charmed as they were at the end of season 5, and a preview of their developments and the important characters making an appearance this season.

Piper Halliwell (Holly Marie Combs)

Piper and her sisters are transformed by her Whitelighter (angelic guardian) husband Leo into Greek Goddesses so that they can defeat the Titans (evil mythical Greek God-like beings), who seek to wipe out the Elders (Whitelighter mentors) and rule the world. Piper, overcome by anger and pain at losing Leo, uses her powers as the Goddess of the Elements to unleash an earthquake and a huge storm on San Francisco, destroying the Titans.

In the new season, Combs is back as Piper adjusting to life as a single mum, and working towards her dream of having a "normal life" without Leo.

Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano)

Transformed into the Goddess of Love, Phoebe defeats the Titans with her sisters. Personal life-wise, Phoebe is still struggling to maintain a long-distance relationship with boyfriend Jason Dean, who has moved to Hong Kong. She is still working at The Bay Mirror newspaper, where her successful advice column, "Ask Phoebe", continues to earn her fame.

In season 6, Milano returns as the middle sister, who will concentrate on trying to hide her powers from Jason. This becomes increasingly hard as Phoebe discovers a new power: she is an "empath", able to feel the emotions of everyone around her, which understandably makes her life quite difficult.

Paige Halliwell (Rose McGowan)

Paige, as the Goddess of War, helps her sisters defeat the Titans. Although promoted by her boss, Paige quits her job as a social worker to become a full-time witch. Having made a successful entrance into Charmed in season 4, McGowan reprises her role as the feisty youngest sister.

In the new season, she'll be taking on temp jobs, which all seem to require magical assistance. Love is also on the cards for Paige, as she'll be hooking up with new beau Richard Montana.

Leo Wyatt (Brian Krause)

Leo is forced to become an Elder in order to give the Charmed Ones the power to defeat the Titans. As an Elder, he can no longer be Piper's husband or the Charmed Ones' Whitelighter, so he appoints Chris Perry, just before the season cliffhanger where he appears to have been killed by Chris.

In season 6, viewers will find out what has become of Leo. That's about all we can say, without giving the surprise away.
Fun Fact: Brian Krause is one of the few original actors still in the show.

Chris Perry (Drew Fuller)

Model and actor Drew Fuller made his first appearance in last season's 2-hour cliffhanger finale as Chris Perry, a Whitelighter who has come back from the future to help the Charmed Ones defeat the Titans.

Having charmed viewers with his breakthrough role, he was invited back to the show by the producers. Drew returns this season as the Charmed Ones' new Whitelighter, pushing them to eliminate demons for an unknown purpose - he is after all an enigmatic character whose real agenda is cleverly disguised. Expect quite a few surprises.

Baby Wyatt (Jason and Kristopher Simmons)

Baby Wyatt showed that he has the makings of quite a powerful witch from birth (in the middle of season 5), with a magical protective force field that activates whenever danger is near.

In season 6, Wyatt is now a toddler whose powers are developing at an alarming rate, enabling him to orb (move using his mind) objects - as well as himself - to disastrous results. Wyatt's existence becomes the fulcrum on which the whole season turns.

Lieutenant Darryl Morris (Dorian Gregory)

After playing only a token role in the past 5 seasons of Charmed, Gregory will be getting more air-time this season as Lieutenant Darryl Morris. He becomes increasingly involved with the Charmed Ones, seeking their help with more police cases while continuing to cover up for them to protect the existence of magic.

Gideon (Gildart Jackson)

Gildart Jackson stars as the most prominent new character the Charmed Ones will meet this season: Gideon, the principal of the Magic School (modelled very closely after J.K. Rowling's Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series). One of the most powerful Elders, and a close friend/mentor of Leo's, Gideon seeks the Charmed Ones' help, and continues to advise them when magical disasters strike.

Sheila Morris (Sandra Prosper)

Along with giving Darryl a bigger role in the new season, show producers have decided to introduce Sandra Prosper (Like Mike) as Sheila Morris, Darryl's wife. She is let into the Charmed Ones' secret, and eventually becomes a close family friend.

Barbas (Billy Drago)

Billy Drago returns as Barbas, the demon of fear. Having made an appearance in seasons 1, 2 and 5, the deliciously evil Barbas is a reoccurring character in season 6, seeking freedom from the underworld at the Charmed Ones' expense.

Jason Dean (Eric Dane)

Introduced as Phoebe's boss and love interest in the middle of season 5, Eric Dane (Las Vegas, Helter Skelter) is back as the bewildered boyfriend Jason Dean.

Our Verdict

While Constance M. Burge left the show after 2 seasons to write for other notable programmes like Ed and Boston Public, executive producers Aaron Spelling and Brad Kern have been with the show ever since it began 6 years ago, coordinating a massive and diverse family of writers, directors and crew that have kept Charmed fresh and exciting throughout the years.

Even though actors and characters have come and gone, Charmed continues to stand out from other TV shows with a cast of heart-warming, hilariously-believable characters, amazing special effects and much effort and love that goes into every episode. The new season looks to be just as fascinating, intriguing and surprising as the ones before.

As Brad Kern says in the foreword of The Book Of Three (Charmed): The Official Companion, "It remains a continuing challenge to create new, mythological worlds for the girls to visit each and every week, especially after so many episodes. Yet, that's also the fun for all of us involved: to use our imaginations, to find new situations that will make our audience laugh, or cry, or wonder. Because at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is whether or not the fans still enjoy the show."

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Pictures courtesy Warner Brothers and Charmed PO3.com