Warning: Spoilers ahead for Chilling Adventures of Sabrina part 4.
“Why are you laughing, Gavin?” Kiernan Shipka asked on a three-way Zoom call between herself, her aforementioned Chilling Adventures of Sabrina co-star/love interest Gavin Leatherwood, and Refinery29. Leatherwood was, in fact, giggling, as was Shipka. “Why are you laughing?” Sabrina Spellman’s portrayer reiterated.
The answer: the long-awaited CAOS sex scene between Shipka’s Sabrina and Leatherwood’s bad-boy-with-a-heart-of-gold, Nick Scratch. Fans can finally see Sabrina and Nick take their relationship to the next level in part 4’s “Deus Ex Machina,” which debuted on Netflix on 31st December along with the rest of CAOS’ final episodes. Faced with possible annihilation during part 4’s battle with the Eldritch Terrors, Sabrina decides she’s ready to sleep with Nick (“The hookup. You know, before you think you’re going to die,” as Shipka said).
Both Shipka and Leatherwood recognise the delicate gravity of the experience for their characters — but still there’s also something Leatherwood can’t help but laugh about.
“Can I say something about this scene? Alright. Alright,” Leatherwood began, taking a breath. “It’s edited together with ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart,’ which, [my co-stars], just nailed. They crush it.” In “Machina,” Nick and Sabrina’s steamy moment is intercut with glimpses of the Fright Club bandmates performing the Bonnie Tyler classic. Sabrina is the lead singer in the musical portion and a pleased collaborator in the sexy section.
“But, the song is like a minute-thirty-two of singing,” Leatherwood pointed out. “Nick and Sabrina start [having sex] at the beginning of that song and then it’s over. It literally looks like Nick, was, I am so sorry to say this… a two pump chump. It was like that’s it. It was over.”
Despite Leatherwood and Shipka’s jokes about Nick’s performance, their consideration of the sex scene wasn’t all fun and games.
“Sabrina takes agency with whatever she does. She isn’t going to wait for anyone but herself. I love that about her. I love that she just makes decisions,” Shipka said of her character’s mindset for the moment. “I also love that we didn’t make [the sex scene] like a huge, huge, huge thing. This was a special moment for Sabrina and Nick, but I think that is exactly it was — it was a very special moment [for them].”
Sabrina and Nick’s sexual evolution is particularly “special” because of what precedes it. At the end of previous episode “The Imp of the Perverse,” Nick, at last, makes a decision about his murky relationship with Sabrina. He tells Sabrina he still has feelings for her and believes they should be together regardless of their seasons of drama (including the time Nick cheated Sabrina with S&M demons). “Sabrina Spellman…. We’re endgame,” Nick says, using a phrase that is laden with meaning on CAOS sister show Riverdale. The next time we see Nick — in the subsequent, sex-holding chapter “Deus Ex Machina” — he is announcing his transfer to Baxter High just to prove his devotion.
Leatherwood admitted saying something as melodramatic as “We’re endgame” was “the weirdest” for him as a performer. His on-screen girlfriend agreed.
“I couldn’t stop laughing. I did not do one take with a straight face. I think if you watch that, it probably cuts to me really quickly and then goes away, because I couldn’t do it,” Shipka said. “I’ve done a lot as an actor, and this is the one thing that I just could not do. Hearing Gavin say that to me was so cute … He really carried that scene on his shoulders. I was just standing there trying not to laugh, keeping my mouth serious looking at all times.”
To keep the scene together, Leatherwood had to employ a helpful mental trick. “I was trying to replace the word ‘endgame’ with something else in my head,” he revealed. “So that when I was saying it, it was like, ‘You and I are ‘soulmates’ or something.”
“Soulmates” is powerful — and beautiful. That’s why Shipka’s takeaway from the exchange is ultimately sweet. “It’s nice that Nick says it! That’s nice,” she concluded.
So, as Shipka looked toward the limitless future for Sabrina — a leading role she accepted at just 18 — and Nick, her attitude was optimistic. “Sabrina and Nick are undeniable in a lot of ways. And I think that no matter what, they’re going to find each other,” she said.
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