Disney is getting into the spooky-season spirit with a brand-new series filled with witches, warlocks, secrets, and plenty of teenage drama.
Coven Academy premieres October 1 on Freeform, followed by its arrival October 2 on Disney+ and Hulu. Set against the appropriately atmospheric backdrop of New Orleans, the new Disney Kids and Family series follows three teenage witches learning that mastering magic may actually be the easy part of surviving school.
The story begins when Briar, played by Malina Weissman, arrives in New Orleans looking for answers about her mother’s death. Miss Graves, the head of Coven Academy, played by Tiffani Thiessen, may have those answers, but she’s not giving them up right away. Instead, Briar is tasked with forming a coven alongside fellow students Sasha (Jordan Leftwich) and Tegan (Ora Duplass).
The series comes from Tim Federle, creator and executive producer of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and his inspirations should sound pretty familiar to anyone who grew up loving supernatural teen television.
Federle says Coven Academy is a tribute to shows and movies including Charmed, The Craft, Hocus Pocus, Dawson’s Creek, and The Vampire Diaries. At its heart, though, he says the series shares something important with his previous Disney work: stories about found family and characters figuring out where they belong.
And yes, there are warlocks, too. Malachi Barton, recently seen in Camp Rock 3, plays Jake, a confident young warlock who already has a reputation for being pretty good at magic. Devon Sawa plays Mr. Cole, a teacher and father figure to the school’s young warlocks. Federle also teased that Miss Graves has her own history with Coven Academy, having once attended the school and belonged to a coven herself.
Disney is telling this particular story in an interesting format. The season consists of 21 shorter chapters, but Federle says watching the entire thing adds up to more than five hours. Rather than treating each chapter as a standalone short, the creative team approached the project as one season-long story meant to slowly unfold.
Disney has also shared a new behind-the-scenes look at the making of Coven Academy, with the cast and creative team digging deeper into the characters, relationships, and magic at the center of the series. We have that video for you below.
With New Orleans as its backdrop and plenty of supernatural mystery mixed into the usual complications of being a teenager, Coven Academy feels particularly well timed for October viewing.
Will you be adding this one to your spooky-season watchlist?
