Hallmark Channel's The Good Witch is approaching its seventh season, bringing more love and hope from Middleton to the small screen. There's a quiet spookiness that The Good Witch brings that can't be defined. It's one of those shows that mixes calmness with a sense of magic and wonder. With Cassie Nightingale as the main character and the head "witch" in charge, fans are just as perplexed to her knowing nature as her friends are.
After starting in 2015, The Good Witch is still going strong with positive ratings and viewership. There's something uplifting about the town of Middleton that brings a sense of peace to viewers throughout. And these are just some of behind-the-scenes secrets of the show.
10 The Series Came After A Made-For-TV Movie
New fans of The Good Witch may be surprised to know that the long-running series was actually created after Hallmark's made-for-TV movie in 2008 with the same title. After the success of the first movie, Hallmark went on to create a sequel called The Good Witch's Garden a year later.
When that sequel did even better than the first movie, Hallmark ran with it and pumped out five more movies before starting a spin-off TV series. For any fans that want more background on Cassie and her family, watching the movies is a great place to start.
9 And There's A Reason The Network Made Cassie A Widow
For fans who have binged the TV series, they'd know that Cassie was a widow when audiences met her in season one. It's not clear how many years ago her husband Jake died, but she was still grieving his loss. Meeting Sam helped her get over the death and find love again.
In the movies, Jake is played by actor Chris Potter. The reason why Hallmark made Cassie a widow for the series is because Potter wasn't available to film when they needed him. Catherine Bell (Cassie) explained how they decided to make Cassie a widow after Potter's busy schedule. “Well, what do we do? How do we stay true to the fans and honor this character that everybody loved?” she said to Parade. She continued, "So we decided the best way to do that would be to age forward in time." Fast forwarding the timeline made more sense for progression.
8 Where Is Middleton Exactly?
The fictional town of Middleton is said to be a couple of hours away from Chicago. It's a small Illinois suburb with a ton of secrets. In real life, Hallmark filmed The Good Witch in various parts of Ontario, Canada near Niagra on the Lake.
In particular, they've filmed around Toronto and the quaint town of Cambridge. Grey House, however, is a real building found in Dundas, Ontario, Canada. Its real name is the Foxbar and fans can see it for themselves!
7 There's Been A Lot Of Changes In Cast (And No Answers)
Longtime Good Witch fans who started with the movies and followed through with the series would realize the many changes in characters. Oddly enough, there's no real explanation for the changes or dismissal of characters — it's just something the show glosses over, which bothers fans.
Brandon Russell and his wife Tara have both experienced acting replacements from the movies to the series without any mention at all. Likewise, Lori Russell (Cassie's stepdaughter) also fell off the map. Martha Tinsdale's sons mysteriously disappeared and so did George's wife, Gwen! It's assumed that busy schedules were the cause of these changes but it's never been thoroughly discussed.
6 Sarah Power Was Pregnant In Season Five
Sarah Power plays Abigail Pershing, Cassie's cousin who also has mystical abilities. Abigail is very different from Cassie and tends to bring chaos wherever she goes, but she's grown a lot after making Middleton her home.
In the series, Abigail's ever-changing love life has often been the topic of discussion. She's a woman who doesn't get hung up on too many men until she met Donovan Davenport. In real life, however, Sarah Power has a more stable love life and is married to actor Peter Mooney. In the fifth season, Power was actually pregnant, but covered her bump to protect her storyline!
5 Cassie & Grace Rubbed Off On Catherine Bell & Bailee Madison
On-screen, Cassie and her daughter Grace have a close bond. They're very protective of each other and know each other inside and out. Adorably, it appears that actresses Catherine Bell and Bailee Madison also have a close relationship.
While talking to Media Village, Bell said "We [Bell and Madison] got so close and before she turned 18, there were times her [real] mom couldn't be with her on certain days, so I was her fill-in mom." Bell would even sleepover Madison's apartment while traveling. She continued saying she felt like her "second mom."
4 The Cast Is Just As Close Off-Screen
It's not just Catherine Bell and Bailee Madison that are close off-screen, it's the entire cast! After filming together for seven movies and six seasons of a TV series, the cast has become a family.
After COVID-19 halted production, the cast missed each other and stayed in contact during quarantine by doing a Zoom call together. Bell said, "We do have the best cast. Off the bat, everything flowed on set and we all missed each other so much we had a Zoom call a few weeks ago!" The gang did a "Zoom happy hour" where they all drank wine and caught up.
3 James Denton Knows The Secret To The Show's Success
James Denton joined the TV series as Sam after hearing how much fans loved the movies. He wanted to be a part of a successful show that had a dedicated fanbase, and that was inevitably The Good Witch. According to Denton, he knows what sets the show apart from others on TV right now, which is why The Good Witch has done so well with ratings.
He said that people want "positive" things to watch these days. “I think they're tired of watching people being awful to each other and they can turn on Hallmark Channel and see people treating each other well and have a happy ending. I really believe that has a lot to do with it."
2 Surprise! Rhys Matthew Bond (Nick) Is British
Rhys Matthew Bond plays Sam's troubled son Nick. Over the years, Nick has grown from an angry kid to a well-behaved teenager with a good head on his shoulders. His dad Sam knew Middleton would be the perfect place to raise Nick, and he was right. Nick ended up graduating high school and traveling to California for college.
Shockingly, the young man who plays Nick, Rhys Matthew Bond, isn't North American at all — he's British! He does the perfect North American accent, which throws fans off when they hear his natural British accent in interviews.
1 It's The Highest Ranking Show On The Hallmark Channel
According to The Slanted, The Good Witch is Hallmark's most popular show on the network. After the season five finale aired, it "was the highest-rated and most-watched program of the day" with over three million viewers.
Catherine Bell's Nightingale is also the network's longest-running character thus far. With an amazing cast and sky-high ratings, it doesn't look like The Good Witch is going anywhere any time soon.
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