Caroline Rhea calls absence from ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’ season 7 ‘weird’

Caroline Rhea is just as puzzled as longtime fans of Sabrina the Teenage Witch about the absence of Aunt Hilda and Aunt Zelda during the show's seventh and final season. 

The actress, now 61, recently shared her thoughts while promoting the upcoming season of Phineas and Ferb.

“That was when I went to do my talk show,” Rhea told Us Weekly. 

“So I know it was weird. And sometimes when I watch season 7, I’m like, ‘Well, this is very weird that we’re not there.’ It’s so messed up because my [whole stand-up routine] is called ‘I Identify as a Witch!’”

Rhea, who played Aunt Hilda for six seasons alongside Beth Broderick’s Aunt Zelda, helped shape the quirky heart of the show. 

Together, they raised Sabrina (played by Melissa Joan Hart) and guided her through life as a teenage witch in the mortal world. But by season seven, both aunts had disappeared from the main cast—Rhea only made a brief return for the finale.

Despite the limited screen time toward the end, Rhea looks back at the series with deep affection. “I genuinely think Melissa’s my niece. I think Beth is my sister. I think the cat [Salem actually] talks,” she joked.

These days, she’s even enjoying the show in a new way—with her 16-year-old daughter, Ava. 

“My daughter and her best friend and I, we all went to Hawaii and Sabrina was on and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so watching it!’” Rhea recalled.

Laughing about her on-screen looks, she added, “Let me tell you, I did a lot for the vest. There was a lot of vest-wearing, terrible haircuts and, maybe, the wrong thyroid medication.”

Still, Rhea is proud of how the show holds up decades later. “I look at Aunt Hilda and the whole show and I go, ‘Well, they seem like fun,’” she said.