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Holly Marie Combs remains 'Charmed' by her roles and her fans

Holly Marie Combs talks about how excited she is to see her fans at this weekend's Wizard World Philly.

Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell.
Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell.Read moreThe WB/Timothy White

Sometimes it can be good to be a witch.

Or, if you're actress Holly Marie Combs, great.

Combs, best-known — and in many cases, beloved — for playing Piper Haliwell, one of three sister witches on the TV series Charmed from 1998-2006, is one of the headliners of Wizard World 2017.

Though also known for prominent roles in the groundbreaking drama Picket Fences in the 1990s and the current Pretty Little Liars, it is for playing Haliwell that Combs made her mark in pop culture.

"It's extraordinary,"Combs said in a preconvention inerview. "At this point, I can almost never see myself saying no to a con or a Charmed reunion, because it's so important to so many people I've already met personally."

Indeed. AOL TV ranked Combs'  Piper Haliwell the third-greatest witch in television history, behind Samantha Stevens (Bewitched) and Willow Rosenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

For her part, Combs said she has much appreciation and passion for the character — and would love to reunite with her fellow "witch sisters," Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan, despite reports the trio didn't always get along.

"I am still friends with them," said Combs. "It's funny. I always say you go through these stages of life, when, you know, we acted like sisters."

"We got along. We agreed. Sometimes we didn't agree," she said. "We  fought. We went to weddings. It was definitely like a real family (and) we were sort of bonded in that way. I think that bond is strengthened by how meaningful the show has been to so many people (and how) it just goes on in its own way."

Combs said that genre shows like Charmed, and the acting in them, often don't get the respect they deserve.

"It's funny," she said, "because even though on a drama like Picket Fences those long monologues would stress me out, doing special effects where there's a green screen and there's nobody there to to react to and you have to recite all this dialogue, it's so much more difficult."

As she interacts with fans,  Combs said she realizes that Picket Fences and Charmed do share a couple of major characteristics.

"One thing I can  say for sure is that with both shows, a lot of people watched them together," she said. "Sisters watched them together or moms and daughters watched them together or the whole family watched them together. I think that's a common thread."

"Another thing is that they're well-written. "Everyone gives Picket Fences credit for being so willing to delve into issues that now would be no big deal. But it was then. It was ahead of it's time," she said.

"But at the same time, when I started Charmed, I realized it was well-written as well," Combs said. "While it's not the type of show that is remembered during awards season, the execution was at a high level and that's what fans remember."