Editor's Note: Theo began identifying himself as a trans man from Part 2 onwards. Before that, he was known (and credited) as Susie and figuring out their gender identity. This article should reflect that. |
“ | I was actually thinking I could maybe wear a suit to the dance. Because I'd feel better in a suit. Uh, I feel more myself in boy's clothes. Actually, dad, I don't think I'm a girl at all. Even though I look like a girl, even though I have a girl's name, even though you've always thought of me as a girl. I'm a boy. I feel good when people call me "he" and "young fella". Like Rozʼs grandma did. I can't keep going on as a girl anymore. I just can't, dad. [...] Theo. Maybe you could start by calling me Theo. After Dorothea. | ” |
Theo Putnam (born Susie Putnam) was initially a recurring character on Part 1 and Part 2 of Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. He has since been promoted to a series regular for Part 3 onward. He is portrayed by Lachlan Watson.
Theo is a member of Baxter High's WICCA club and The Fright Club. He's also one of Sabrina's best friends. Theo Putnam was born Susie Putman, and identified as non-binary before coming to terms with and identifying as a transgender boy. Theo is the boyfriend of Robin Goodfellow, a hobgoblin, and he fights monsters with his friends while struggling with monsters on his own.
Character Description[]
Susie Putnam, one of Sabrina’s friends at Baxter High and a founding member of the school’s newly formed WICCA club. Brave and optimistic despite being bullied at school, Susie lives on a farm at the outskirts of town and deals with a terrifying supernatural threat at home.[1]
Early Life[]
Theo was born as Susie Putnam in Greendale, but identified as non-binary from a young age. He would later identify as a transgender boy. He was raised by a single father as it's unknown what happened to his mother. However, through most of Theo's adolescence, he and his father have been caretakers to Jesse Putnam who apparently snapped one day after a shift in the mines. Despite being friends with Harvey, Theo wasn't allowed to tell him about Jesse since his father owns the mines and Theo's father knew that Harvey's father would deny any apparent wrongdoing. Theo then started attending Baxter High and found a good group of friends sticking by them. Despite his friends, he has endured bullying by members of the football team.
Throughout Chilling Adventures of Sabrina[]
Physical Appearance[]
Theo is petite, standing at 5'1 with brown hair and has bluish-gray eyes. Even as a young child, his haircut has been the one constant throughout his lifetime until Theo got a buzz cut to make him look more masculine.
Personality[]
Theo is a young student at Baxter High and one of Sabrina, Roz and Harvey's best friends. Independent and courageous, Theo is on a journey to discover an identity that can better define emotions, sensations and desires that characterize him, defying the binary gender norms of male and female. Theo's journey, however, is not at all easy and some more than others are willing to make it even more difficult. While Sabrina struggles with her witch nature, Theo is going through hell at school where football players are constantly harassing him for not fitting a specific idea of gender roles. For example, they lifted Theo's jumper to see if he had breasts or not. Physical and verbal abuse are part of Theo's daily life, despite Sabrina and Rosalind's attempts to make things easier due to Principal Hawthorne turning a blind eye. He is also facing a distressing situation at home where uncle Jesse, who always struggled with his own gender identity [2], became horribly ill after witnessing something in the Greendale Mines and Theo's father decided to send him to a mental asylum that triggered painful emotions in Theo.
Despite the fact that Theo's best friends using feminine pronouns didn't bothered him, Theo seemed delighted when Nana Ruth and Dorothea used masculine pronouns instead, taking their comments as compliments and foreshadowing his upcoming step in embracing a more fitting gender identity to express himself. Also with the help of Roz, Theo comes out to his friends Harvey and Sabrina who since then, have adjusted to the use of male pronouns without too many problems.
Although Theo is a human, supernatural events didn't cause much of a shock. Indeed, conversations with Nana Ruth but especially with the ghost of his long-dead ancestor, Dorothea Putnam, seems to have helped Theo discover new sides of his personal identity.
Powers and Abilities[]
After going through his ancestor Dorothea Putnam's personal belongings, Theo started to see the ghost of Dorothea and is able to communicate with her in limited mediumship.
When a incubus possessed Theo, it boosted his libido and made him more sexually aggressive to Robin. Theo managed to stay in control for some time, but his carnal craving reached the breaking point at Hilda's wedding.
Relationships[]
Joe Putnam[]
Joe is Theo's loving father. While they've always been close and had an admirable relationship, Theo kept his struggles with gender identity secret from his father for a long time, which only further worried Joe as he could tell something was wrong. Eventually, Theo sat his father down and revealed that he no longer wanted to be called Susie as it didn't feel right. He didn't think that he was a girl at all even though he looks like a girl, has a girl's name, and his dad thought of him as a girl. Theo always felt more comfortable with himself in boy's clothes and preferred to be referred to with masculine pronouns.
Sabrina Spellman[]
Sabrina is one of Theo's closet friends and confidants. They are childhood friends and someone who Theo cares for deeply and would do anything to protect and vice versa. Along with Roz, they formed WICCA at Baxter High to ensure the safety of their fellow classmates as well as themselves from their intolerable male classmates, especially Theo, who was being tormented by the boys' football team despite Sabrina's best efforts to protect him by reporting the boys to the principal, who did nothing. Sabrina also accepted Theo with open arms when he transitioned from Susie and even helped him claim a spot on the boys' basketball team.
Rosalind Walker[]
Theo and Roz are close friends and have known each other since childhood, back when Theo still identified as Susie. Roz was very accepting of Theo as he transitioned and defended him from bullies. She even supported Theo as he tried-out for the boys' basketball team with Harvey. Along with Sabrina, the three of them founded WICCA to ensure the safety of their classmates as well as themselves from their male classmates, who were consistently bullying other students, none more than Theo. When Roz (and Harvey) began to suspect that Sabrina was the cause for her blindness, it was Theo who reminded her that Sabrina was their friend and that she would never hurt them.
Harvey Kinkle[]
Theo and Harvey are childhood friends and have become even closer recently. They first met when Theo still identified as Susie, however, Harvey was very accepting of Theo as he transitioned. He even helped Theo tie his tie for the first time. The two of them also tried-out for the boys' basketball team together. The two have also been known to pair off and do their own investigating, specifically when Harvey sought to go down into the mines for clues. While searching through Tunnel 13, which had been closed off, they were attacked by a mysterious woman dressed in white. A struggle ensued before Theo killed her with a pickax.
Robin Goodfellow[]
Unbeknownst to Theo, when Robin initially arrived in Greendale, he came with the Phantasmagoria carnival intent on seducing Theo so that he could be the virgin sacrifice for the rise of the Green Man. However, before long, he starts to develop genuine feelings for Theo, which results in Robin not only coming clean to Theo about his affiliation to the pagans but also providing them with information to help them defeat the pagans. Additionally, Theo and Robin had sex so that Theo couldn't be sacrificed as the ritual required a virgin.
Appearances[]
Trivia[]
- Theo is figuring out his gender identity, but currently identifies as a man. [3]
- In the early draft of the first episode Theo was just a classmate of Sabrina and not really part of her friend group. His name was also originally Orlando West.[4]
- Lachlan Watson influenced Theo's "queer journey". In the original script, Theo identified as a transgender man and came out in the first few episodes. After conversations between Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Lachlan, writers decided to develop the character's journey to a slower pace. [5]
- In Part 2, Susie undergoes the first steps into transition, starting from using masculine pronouns and naming himself Theo, after his ancestor, Dorothea Putnam.
- In the course of the series, Theo has been bullied and misgendered (using a word that doesn't correctly reflect the gender with which he identifies with) either intentionally and unintentionally by several characters such as Principal Hawthorne and some Baxter High Ravens.
- Theo likes action movies. [6]
- Theo always carries a sewing kit.[7]
- Theo’s celebrity crush is a pink haired member of a Korean pop band.[7]
- Fans of the animated series have found Theo comparable to Perry "Pi" McDonald since both characters are androgynous.
- Theo dresses like Eddie Munster, the werewolf son from The Munsters for Roz’s Halloween party in "Chapter Two: The Dark Baptism". This is also a reference to the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comic book Issue #7, where a young Edward Spellman is drawn to resemble Eddie Munster.
Gallery[]
- See also: Category:Images of Theo Putnam
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References[]
- ↑ 25 Things You Need To Know About The New "Sabrina The Teenage Witch" Series - BuzzFeed
- ↑ Conkel, Joshua & Kaufman, MJ (writers) & Talalay, Rachel (director) (October 26, 2018). "Chapter Six: An Exorcism in Greendale". Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Part 1. Episode 6. Netflix.
- ↑ Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Lachlan Watson and Chance Perdomo on their characters' gender and sexuality
- ↑ Chapter One: October Country early script draft
- ↑ Susie's Journey On 'The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina' Is An Honest Look At Being Non-Binary & That's Exactly What Lachlan Watson Wanted
- ↑ Daughter of Chaos
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Path of Night