Prudence Halliwell is a fictional character from the American television series Charmed, played by Shannen Doherty from October 7, 1998, until May 17, 2001. She is the eldest daughter of Patty Halliwell and Victor Bennett. The character was created by Constance M. Burge, who based Prue on her older sister. Prue is introduced into the series as the eldest sister to Piper Halliwell (Holly Marie Combs) and Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano). She is one of the first original featured leads and more specifically, a Charmed Oneone of the most powerful witches of all time. Prue initially possesses the power to move objects with her mind by channeling telekinesis through her eyes. As the series progresses, she learns how to channel her telekinesis through her hands and gains the power of astral projection, the ability to be in two places at once. Prue also develops martial arts skills and becomes an effective hand-to-hand fighter like Phoebe.
Prue is portrayed as the oldest, responsible, strong, "kick-ass sister" and "leader of the group." During her three seasons on Charmed, she is regarded as the strongest and most powerful witch of the Halliwell sisters in seasons 1-3*. Prue's storylines have mostly revolved around her protecting innocents and defeating the forces of evil in San Francisco with her sisters, as well as leading a normal life as an appraiser for an auction house and later as a professional photographer for a magazine company. She also has romantic relationships with her old high school flame Inspector Andy Trudeau (Ted King) in season one, and fellow auction house employee Jack Sheridan (Lochlyn Munro) in season two. In the third season, Prue is forced to marry the warlock Zile (Tom O'Brien) in a dark marriage ceremony, but their marriage soon ends after he is vanquished. In the season three finale "All Hell Breaks Loose", Prue is attacked by Shax, a powerful demonic assassin sent by The Source of All Evil, ending the season on a cliffhanger. After Doherty departed the series, this attack was revealed to be fatal. She was replaced in season four by Rose McGowan, who played the long-lost younger half-sister Paige Matthews.
The character received a positive reception from television critics, who praised her strong persona and Doherty's performance. Doherty received two Saturn Award nominations in 1999 and 2000, for Best Actress on Television for her portrayal of Prue. In 2007, AOL TV ranked Prue at number nine on their list of the Top TV Witches. In addition to the television series, the character has also appeared in numerous expanded universe material, such as the Charmed novels and its comic book adaptation.
Casting and development
In 1998, The WB began searching for a drama series, and looked to Spelling Television, which had produced the network's most successful series 7th Heaven, to create it. Expanding on the popularity of supernatural-themed dramas, the production company explored forms of mythology to find mythological characters they could focus on with contemporary storytelling. In order to create the series, Constance M. Burge was hired as the creator as she was under contract with 20th Century Fox and Spelling Television after conceiving the drama Savannah. Prue is based on Burge's older sister Laura.
When the series was in its first development stages, executive producer Aaron Spelling had always known who he wanted for the role of Prue: Shannen Doherty, an actress from a previous Spelling Television series, Beverly Hills, 90210. Doherty, already devoted to the project, pitched the idea to her best friend, former Picket Fences actress Holly Marie Combs, whom she and Spelling wanted for the role of Piper Halliwell. Doherty played the role of Prue in a 28-minute test pilot (the "unaired pilot", never aired on television) alongside Combs and actress Lori Rom, who played the youngest sister Phoebe Halliwell. Rom quit the series and a new pilot was filmed with former Who's the Boss? actress Alyssa Milano, who took over the role of Phoebe. Following the announcement, rumors circulated that the reason behind Doherty's departure was because of a feud with Milano. Doherty told Entertainment Tonight that "there was too much drama on the set and not enough passion for the work", and that there were never any problems between her and Combs. Spelling even approached Tiffani Thiessen, who replaced Doherty on Beverly Hills, 90210, and Jennifer Love Hewitt. However, both Thiessen and Hewitt declined the role. Producers then decided to kill off Prue and replace her with a long-lost younger half-sister named Paige Matthews (played by Rose McGowan), in favor of having "a fresh face" join the series. In an interview with TVLine marking the ten year anniversary of the series finale, executive producer Brad Kern said that he "tried like crazy to get her in flashbacks and to have photographs of her on the walls," but they could not afford to pay Doherty per-episode fee to use her image. Kern said that he regrets not being able to include a photo of Prue in the series finale's final montage, but added it would have been "impossible to accomplish" because "it was going to cost us a lot of money." Doherty revealed that she was asked to return for the series finale, but she declined the offer as she did not like the way the producers wanted to bring Prue back, stating it was "just not authentic", "nothing interesting or good", not "true to the character", and that "it didn't feel right." Kern felt that Doherty would not have returned because "there were a lot of internal issues that led up to her leaving...on a lot of different people's sides." On the night of Phoebe's return, she finds a book called the Book of Shadows within the Manor's attic.
The show's second season (1999–2000) opens with Prue's continual struggle to deal with Andy's death. Prue feels responsible, and contemplates giving up on witchcraft entirely, but eventually decides to continue her destiny as a witch and protector of the innocent with help from her sisters. and learns to open herself up to the potential of love again through a courtship with fellow Buckland's employee Jack Sheridan (Lochlyn Munro) and a romantic fling with ex-con Bane Jessup (Antonio Sabato, Jr.). She eventually quits her job at Buckland's to pursue her lifelong dream of being a professional photographer. In the season two finale, Prue and her sisters discover that the many attacks on their lives by evil beings have been orchestrated by a demonic force known as The Council.
By season three (2000–01), learning of the new evil The Triad (who have replaced The Council), Prue becomes determined to prepare herself for any further attacks of evil on herself, her sisters and any future innocents in which to protect. Throughout the season Prue displays martial arts skills, strengthening her powers and researching, finding and destroying demons. Her fight and devotion as a Charmed One and fulfilling their destiny results in her becoming what has been coined as a "SuperWitch". After Prue and Piper later discover that Cole Turner (Julian McMahon), who is actually Belthazor, faked his death with Phoebe's help, the revelation causes a rift in their sisterly relationship. Later, after being forced to marry the warlock, Zile (Tom O'Brien) in a dark marriage ceremony, Prue comes to understand Phoebe's draw to Cole's darker half. While the two sisters mend their relationship, Prue distrusts Cole for some time. Midway through season three, Prue also makes amends with her estranged father, Victor Bennett (James Read) who left the family shortly after their mother's death.
During the season three finale, Prue and Piper unwittingly expose themselves as witches to the world after being caught on camera by a local news crew fighting with The Source's personal assassin Shax. In the aftermath of the exposure, Piper is shot by a crazed Wiccan fanatic who wanted to join the sisters' coven. Prue frantically tries to get Piper to a hospital, but is thwarted by the crowd of media in her way. Prue disregards the laws of magic and uses her powers against everyone in her way to save her sister's life. Prue gets Piper to a hospital bed where Piper tells her she's "so cold", and dies in Prue's arms. Although the character is never shown again, Piper attempts numerous spells to resurrect Prue to no avail, and when she comes into contact with their grandmother, it is revealed that Prue is still struggling to adjust to being in the afterlife and that she is being helped to process her death by both Penny and the girls' mother Patty Halliwell (Finola Hughes). and that of his next incarnation, Cole. In the fifth season (2002–03), Prue is briefly seen when Phoebe and Paige visit the past memory of Piper's wedding. However, Prue's face is never shown and only her back is seen Piper, Phoebe and Paige later utilize the power of astral projection to defeat the threat of the demon Zankou (Oded Fehr). which could indicate the literature fitting into the established canon of the series and the so-called "Charmed universe". Prue's first appearance in Charmed literature takes place within the novel The Power of Three by Eliza Willard on November 1, 1999, which acts as a novelised version of the series' premiere episode, "Something Wicca This Way Comes". Her last appearance in a Charmed novel takes place within Beware What You Wish by Diana G. Gallagher on July 31, 2001.
In 2010, Charmed gained an officially licensed continuation in the form of a comic book, which is often billed as Charmed: Season 9. The series is published monthly by Zenescope Entertainment. While Shannen Doherty's image of Prue has yet to actually be seen in the comics, the character is seen as another person after taking over their body. In the twelfth issue of the comic, The Charmed Offensive, seven years after Prue's death, Penny Halliwell informs the sisters that Prue has reincarnated into her next life, as her destiny was not completed when she died. In the seventeenth issue of the comics, Paige looks for a witch named Sarah at a Salem house; however, she meets Cole who won't let her in. Despite his pleas, she orbs into the house where she meets Patience (Prue) and the two touch causing their powers to send them away. After recovering, Patience tells Paige that she is Prue. To diffuse the chaos brought upon by the presence of the four sisters, Paige volunteers to relinquish her powers so that Prue can rejoin her sisters in the "Power of Three". Cole, however, steps in and informs Prue that the real reason she remained tied to the "Power of Three" and unable to move on in the afterlife was because she refused to truly let go of her destiny with her sisters. Realizing that her time as a Charmed One has passed, as she no longer inhabits the body of a true Warren witch, Prue instead surrenders her Warren powers so that Paige will be the only sister with the power to move things with her mind. spell casting, As a magical witch, Prue can utilize scrying, a divination art form that allows one to locate a missing object or person. Prue can also cast spells, often written in iambic pentameter or as a rhyming couplet, to influence others or the world around her. She can also brew potions, most often used to vanquish foes or to achieve other magical feats similar to the effects of a spell. Prue also possesses the powers of telekinesis and astral projection; however, in the comic book continuation, she chooses to lose these abilities because her and Paige's co-existence is unbalancing the Power of Three. Prue was also often described as the most powerful of the Charmed Ones in seasons 1-3.
Telekinesis
At the start of the series, it is revealed that Prue has the power to move objects and people with her mind using telekinesis. While Prue's telekinetic powers work best with a direct line of sight, she appears to simply need only an intimate knowledge of the object's location in order to manipulate its movement. For instance, in the pilot episode, "Something Wicca This Way Comes", Prue is able to move the ink from her ex-fiancée Roger's pen, although it is mostly concealed in his shirt pocket. Later in the series, she obtains enough control over her powers in order to move objects with a mere crook or twitch of a single finger. The limits of Prue's telekinetic powers are unclear, but she appears to be able to move up to 400 pounds (181.4 kg) with her mind, sufficient to lift and throw two normal-sized adults with her powers.
In the season two episode "Morality Bites", Prue travels ten years into the future from the year 1999 and inhabits her future self's body. In the episode, Prue discovers that in ten years time from 1999, her telekinesis becomes several times stronger when she telekinetically blasts out an entire wall of the attic with one swift hand gesture. However, she never displays the ability to astrally project across worlds. It is also revealed that Prue is unable to access her power of telekinesis while she is astrally projecting. In the season three episode "Primrose Empath", after Prue is temporarily cursed with the power of empathy, she channels the emotions she feels to enhance her own magical powers, which enable her to astrally project emotions into other people as well as briefly utilize her astral and physical bodies at the same time.
Other abilities
During her time on the series, Prue displays an efficiency in the Latin language and displays an expertise on various artifacts from a number of art forms and cultures throughout history. In season two, Prue begins taking classes in self-defense with her sister Phoebe. and two S.W.A.T. team members. Prue is also skilled in the art of photography, which she later turns into her full-time profession. Doherty and Milano's rumored off-screen feud earned them a nomination for Best Fight at the 2001 Wand Awards. Michael Abernethy of PopMatters described Prue as "pragmatic" and noted that Doherty's performance in Charmed had "the hard edge" that was seen in her previous roles, further adding that she had "matured from a bitchy teenager into an assertive confident woman." Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly commented that Doherty's presence on the show was one of the main things that made it interesting, writing "Perennially crabby, delivering her lines as if she has contempt for them...curt, cranky Doherty gives Charmed its kick." Newsdays Steve Parks wrote that Doherty being cast as a witch was a "perfect" idea, due to her rumored poor off-screen behaviour. Kristin Sample of AOL TV felt that Prue had the "best powers" and was "the bitchiest" witch out of the three sisters, further adding that Doherty "quite possibly could be a real life witch." CNN's Joshua Levs named Prue the "uber-responsible older sister" and felt that Doherty made her "somewhat plausible."
Entertainment Weeklys Kate Ward added that she "gained an appreciation" for Doherty after seeing her on Charmed, writing "Despite omnipresent rumors of her poor off-screen behavior, it's been difficult for me to think of Doherty as anything but charming." In her review of the first season, Karyn L. Barr of the same publication wrote that Prue was one of the reasons it was "spellbinding". Rachel Day of Geek Speak praised Doherty's acting on Charmed and wrote that she deserved her two Saturn Award nominations. Day noted that Doherty's "particularly outstanding" performances were in the season two episodes "Witch Trial" and "Murphy's Luck". SpoilerTV's Gavin Hetherington named Prue "one of television's most influential witches" and wrote that her death in the season three finale was "one of the best in television history" that "forever changed the course of the show." Angelica Bastien of Bustle called Prue "the superior sister" and added that she preferred the show's first three seasons as she felt "Charmed got pretty bad" in the seasons after Prue died. Brett Cullum of DVD Verdict wrote that Prue was "the pragmatic no-nonsense leader of the group" during the first three seasons and she was "never afraid to lay down the law." He further added, "Not only was Shannen a pretty good witch, but nobody gives good bitch quite like her. She's infamous for being hard to work with, but she's got a charisma the show needed. She knew how to make Prudence strong and vulnerable all at once, and they relied on her to be the wise leader who put her fist down when necessary." The following year, she was ranked at number 10 on the same list. Prue was included in TVLine's list of "Shocking TV Deaths", while Glamour magazine included her in their list of favourite witches from TV. Prue's death was included on io9's list of the "Top 10 Most Shocking TV Deaths", with Meredith Woerner stating that her permanent death was shocking considering the show's light-hearted tone and forever changed the family dynamic.
Doherty and her character have been referenced in television shows and films due to her portrayal as a witch in Charmed. In the 2000 parody film, Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth, Barbara Primesuspect (Julie Benz) is said to be yelling "Charmed my ass!" at Doherty, who does not appear on-screen. In an episode of the teen comedy-drama series Popular, entitled "The Shocking Possession of Harrison John", Josh Ford (Bryce Johnson) asks George Austin (Anthony Montgomery) who is Michael Bernardino's (Ron Lester) "favorite hottie witch" on Charmed and George says it is Prue. In the episode "Cursed" of sitcom So Notorious, Tori Spelling and Sasan (Zachary Quinto) discuss who has put a curse on her and Sasan says, "It's Shannen! She knows all that witchcraft from Charmed." The reference in So Notorious was meant as a joke to Doherty's rumored poor off-screen behavior when she and Spelling both starred together in Beverly Hills, 90210.
See also
- Woman warrior