'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' Cast on Harvey's Abrupt Exit — And Joyous Return

Melissa Joan Hart, Nate Richert.

Back in the late ’90s and early ’00s, Nate Richert starred as the lovable Harvey Kinkle on the first four seasons of Sabrina the Teenage Witch alongside Melissa Joan Hart — and both costars say they faced an “emotional rollercoaster” when they found out the character wouldn’t be returning for season 5.

“It was disappointing,” Richert, 46, exclusively told Us Weekly of his exit at 90s Con in Daytona Beach earlier this month.

Richert was a mainstay on season 1 through 4 of the hit sitcom as the teen witch’s boyfriend. Things changed on the season 4 finale, when Harvey confronted his girlfriend about being a witch after years of being out of the loop. By the season 5 premiere, which aired in September 2000, Harvey was nowhere to be found, and Sabrina revealed the duo had called it quits.

Richert continued to be notably absent from season 5 of the show, with Sabrina finding a new crush in David Lasher’s Josh. Fans, however, quickly expressed their displeasure over Harvey’s exit, and Richert was brought back for a few cameos at the back half of season 5.

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By season 6, Richert returned as a series regular— but now, Harvey was Sabrina’s ex who had moved on to date roommate Morgan (Elisa Donovan). While Richert said he was happy to come back, the initial appearances felt off kilter.

“It’s weird because you do something for so long, every single day. And then [they brought me back], but it was, like, here and there,” he explained. “You almost lose — your rhythm is a little off. But it was still amazing. Still fun.”

Hart, 48, told Us that there was definitely “flux in cast” during the show’s seven seasons, but it “made sense” that Harvey eventually returned to Sabrina’s life. The pair remained friendly exes — as Harvey was the only mortal who knew Sabrina’s secret — eventually finding their way back together, romantically speaking, on the series finale.

“It just made sense, right? [Nate came back], and it just felt, like, ‘Yeah, this is the way it’s supposed to be,’” Hart told Us, adding, “No offense to David Lasher!”

While Sabrina and Harvey got their happily ever after in the show’s final few minutes, Hart and Richert said they’ve talked “a lot” about where the duo would be now, agreeing that the couple’s married life would be a good one, but not without its hijinks.

“They’d obviously have kids and one of them would obviously have to be a witch at some point, of course,” Richert said as Hart nodded in agreement. Richert also noted that Harvey would likely be facing some lasting effects of Sabrina casting so many spells — especially those pesky amnesia spells — on him.

“I mean, I don’t know how that works! They’ve made that memory [of his] go away so many times,” he joked. “Like, at some point, that’s gotta make a lasting effect and mess with you a little bit, right?”

While Harvey was on his (temporary) way out for season 5, other new characters were on their way into Sabrina’s life for her college years. Donovan and Soleil Moon Frye, who portrayed Morgan and Roxy, respectively, said that they were shown warm welcomes when joining the cast for its move from ABC to the UPN.

“It was great. because they make it like a family,” Frye, perhaps best known as the child star of Punky Brewster, told Us. “And we had already known each other from being on sound stages. We were friends. Which was always awesome.”

Hart and Frye met when they were just six years old — which is why Hart pitched Frye for the role of Roxy off the bat. “It was a dream come true,” Frye said. “It was so, so much fun.”

“It really was a family,” she continued. “When we weren’t on set, we were hanging out at Melissa’s house.”

Sabrina wrapped more than twenty years ago, but that feeling of family remains.  Now, however, the cast is joined by legions of loyal fans who they can connect with at places like 90s Con.

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“We have so much fun here,” Hart told Us of attending the annual convention. “There’s so many levels to coming into thisBeing with the fans and hearing all the wonderful stories about what the show means to them is really, really moving and powerful.”

She added, “But then we love getting together as a family and catching up and spending time and laughing and being silly. And then we also love seeing all of our former castmates from other projects or friends or ex-boyfriends or whoever it may be. Half of them ended up on Sabrina at some point.”