![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/gallery\/albums\/Cast2\/Madeleine%20Mantock\/Fotoshoots\/2018%20Rachell%20Smith%20Teen%20Vouge\/thumb_001.jpg\")
<\/a> <\/center><\/p>\n\u201cSo there\u2019s really no limit to what we can cover.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the CW\u2019s Charmed reboot, three sisters discover that they are witches who hold the power to fight evil forces lurking beneath the surface \u2014 literally, the underworld \u2014 of their hometown. But for oldest sister Macy Vaughn, played by British actor Madeleine Mantock, her newfound telekinetic ability is just one of the shocking revelations she must come to terms with.
\nMacy initially moves to the fictional Hilltown, Michigan, to work in the local university lab as a geneticist. That is, until she\u2019s faced with the startling realization that her new town is also home to the two half-sisters and late mother she never knew she had. Coincidence? We think not. For the science and logic-driven Macy, the news is quite a lot to process.<\/p>\n\u201cMacy\u2019s a character who is really great with her mind, but not so great with her emotions, and so it\u2019s been really fun to get to play that,\u201d Madeleine tells Teen Vogue. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a first for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The twenty-eight-year-old actor previously starred on British shows Casualty and Lee Nelson\u2019s Well Funny People, along with AMC\u2019s Into the Badlands and the CW\u2019s The Tomorrow People. But playing Macy, she says, is also the first time she\u2019s gotten to portray a character who is not secondary to a lead male role. Instead, Charmed focuses on Macy\u2019s relationship with her sisters Maggie and Mel, played by Sarah Jeffery and Melonie Diaz, respectively.
\nThe series, which premieres October 14, is described by the network as being \u201cfierce, feminist, and funny,\u201d so it makes sense that sisterhood is a key element of its plotline. And while many of Hollywood\u2019s depiction of witches still follow stereotypical tropes of old, evil, and ugly women on the hunt for youth and beauty (sorry, Hocus Pocus), Charmed attempts to reclaim the use of magic and show its powerful and positive impact through well-rounded, three-dimensional, complex characters. As the sisters attempt to uncover the supernatural circumstances surrounding their mother\u2019s mysterious death, they also tackle social and personal issues such as sexual harassment, self-confidence, and grief \u2014 in Macy\u2019s case, the loss of a parent she never got the chance to know.<\/p>\n\u201cI think the idea is for us to be as brave as we can, and we\u2019re kind of blessed in the sense that we can have this duality of demons that you and I might face in this real world [that] can also present themselves as metaphysical demons that the characters as witches can try and vanquish,\u201d Madeleine says. \u201cSo there\u2019s really no limit to what we can cover.\u201d<\/p>\n
And with the show\u2019s cast, Charmed also breaks pop culture\u2019s tired tradition of only affording white women the opportunity to play witches. Although the show has been characterized as having Latinx main characters, Madeleine points out that women of color might be a more accurate term to describe her and her castmates: Madeleine is Afro-Caribbean and British, Melonie is Latinx, and Sarah is African-American, English, and Indigenous Canadian. With the announcement that there is also a Latinx witch in Charmed\u2019s writing room, fans are excited that the series will finally pay homage to the fact that witchcraft is largely prevalent in communities of color.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it\u2019s a necessity. It\u2019s something that we should\u2019ve had a long time ago,\u201d says Madeleine. \u201cBut I\u2019m happy it\u2019s going to happen now, and I just hope that we can do more because I don\u2019t think it stops with just having hired us three to be the three sisters.\u201d<\/p>\n
She does, however, point out that she doesn\u2019t want this representation to be taken to the extreme of tokenism, which is why her, her castmates, and executive producer Jennie Snyder Urman (who also worked on Jane the Virgin) all spoke about how to make sure the series authentically reflects the sisters\u2019 heritage. One solution, Madeleine explains, has been for Macy to have a different father than her sisters, and thus open up her character\u2019s storyline to explore her background and the multitude of cultures that exist within witchcraft. Although she can\u2019t give much away yet, she says she\u2019s excited for the show to progress and respectfully honor Macy\u2019s Afro-Latina identity as well as the practices and origins of witchcraft she\u2019ll discover along the way.
\n\u201cI think it\u2019s important to do it because if you don\u2019t, you end up just going, \u2018Yeah, sure. She can play that. She looks passable enough,\u201d Madeleine tells Teen Vogue. \u201cI think we\u2019re being conscious not to do that, and we\u2019re being honest about the characters that we\u2019re playing, how we got to be here, and how we\u2019re trying to approach the story so that we can give a fair and honest representation of who these characters are.\u201d<\/p>\nAs we get ready to watch the sisters embark on their adventures and learn to love and accept their own powers \u2014both figuratively and literally \u2014 Madeleine hopes their journeys inspire us to look inside ourselves, too. After all, you don\u2019t have to be a witch to believe in your own magic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would love for people who watch our show to have a sense of confidence to really feel empowered that however they are is brilliant,\u201d she says. \u201cJust that idea that no one is you and that\u2019s your power.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n