Disney+ has released the official trailer for Coven Academy, an upcoming teen fantasy that sends a trio of young witches into a New Orleans world where learning magic is only the beginning of their problems. Watch the trailer above and dive into everything you need to know below.
Set to Olivia Rodrigo’s “Brutal,” the trailer puts Malina Pauli Weissman’s Briar at the centre of the mayhem. She’s a newcomer to Crescent Veil Academy, newly aware that she’s a witch and nowhere near ready to control what she can do. Cue spells going badly, suspicious teachers, vampire trouble and two very different boys competing for her attention.
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The trailer digs further into Briar’s struggle with her abilities and the turbulent triangle developing between her, confident warlock Jake (Malachi Barton) and newly turned vampire Ollie (Louis Thresher). And since witches and vampires are already on opposing sides of an escalating conflict, choosing who to date suddenly comes with much higher stakes.
What Is Coven Academy About?
The series takes place at Crescent Veil Academy, an elite New Orleans boarding school where young witches and warlocks are taught to harness their abilities. Briar arrives from New York and quickly finds that whatever she thought she knew about herself was missing one fairly major detail.
Her arrival also drops her into a much bigger fight. Ancient hostilities are stirring, while a vengeful dark force has its sights set on students who could become the next generation of its coven. Suddenly, getting through the school year means considerably more than passing classes and keeping wayward magic under control.
There are personal questions to untangle as well. Briar’s mother has a mysterious connection to the school, giving her another reason to start digging into Crescent Veil’s secrets instead of simply following the rules.
Meet Briar, Sasha and Tegan
At the heart of the show is the friendship between three very different witches. Briar is fiercely independent, reckless and apparently quite comfortable making a bad situation worse if there’s a chance she’ll get an answer out of it.
Weissman, best known for playing Violet Baudelaire in A Series of Unfortunate Events, told Entertainment Weekly that she was immediately drawn to the show’s darker, eerier world and the nostalgia it stirred for the series she watched growing up.
When it comes to Briar, Weissman doesn’t mince words: “She’s the ultimate daredevil… She wants to bend rules.”
Jordan Leftwich plays Sasha, an empath who can read minds and tends to be the more cautious voice in the group. Ora Duplass is Tegan, a time-bending witch who’s far more willing to join Briar whenever trouble presents itself.
That balance becomes important as the three begin investigating Briar’s family history and trying to stay one step ahead of Miss Graves. As Weissman puts it, “The girls are really the core of who she becomes.”
Tiffani Thiessen, who plays the Crescent Veil headmistress, also points to that friendship as one of the foundations of the series. Drawing on her own experience watching her teenage daughter’s friendships, Thiessen says the show explores young women supporting one another and discovering that together “they’re even stronger.”
Yes, There’s a Witch-Warlock-Vampire Love Triangle
Briar’s romantic life isn’t exactly making school any easier. Malachi Barton plays Jake, a charismatic warlock with a dangerous streak who quickly takes an interest in her. On the other side is Ollie, played by Boarders star Louis Thresher, a recently turned vampire still dealing with his own transformation.
The problem isn’t simply deciding between two boys. Ollie belongs to the very group Crescent Veil is increasingly at odds with, turning Briar’s attraction to him into something potentially much messier than ordinary teenage relationship drama.
The trailer isn’t shy about leaning into it either. There are longing looks, jealousy, kisses and plenty of reasons to suspect that Briar’s choices could complicate an already volatile situation.
Tiffani Thiessen and Devon Sawa Are Running the Adult Side of Things
Watching over Crescent Veil is Miss Graves, played by Tiffani Thiessen. The Saved by the Bell, Beverly Hills, 90210 and White Collar star plays the school’s formidable headmistress, although her connection to Briar appears to extend beyond simply keeping an eye on another unruly student.
Briar senses there is something linking the two of them, but whether Graves can actually be trusted is another matter. Their relationship is deliberately complicated, particularly as Briar starts questioning what she’s being told and digging deeper into her mother’s ties to Crescent Veil.
Devon Sawa also joins the faculty as special guest star Mr. Cole, a charismatic and highly capable warlock professor. The Final Destination and Chucky actor brings some extra genre credentials to a show already happily filling its classrooms with things that go bump in the night.
Who Else Is in the Coven Academy Cast?
Alongside Weissman, Barton, Leftwich, Duplass, Thresher, Thiessen and Sawa, the recurring cast includes Swayam Bhatia as McKenna, Brendon Tremblay as Alexander, Keegan Connor Tracy as Tamora, BJ Harrison as Agnes and Nathaniel Logan McIntyre as Teese.
The Episodes Are Only Around 15 Minutes Long
One of the more interesting things about Coven Academy is its format. Rather than stretching the story across traditional hour-long episodes, the series is built from fast-moving chapters of around 15 minutes.
Thiessen credits creator Tim Federle and the writing team with keeping the numerous storylines “moving quickly” without losing the show’s emotional core. She also revealed that the cast were discovering plenty of the twists themselves as new scripts arrived during filming, meaning they were experiencing the surprises alongside their characters.
It’s an intriguing approach for something juggling this much: magical abilities, rival factions, family secrets, friendships, romance and whatever nasty business is threatening New Orleans.
The format should lend itself particularly well to bingeing, too. Rather than rolling episodes out week by week, the entire season will be made available on streaming at once.
Who’s Behind Coven Academy?
The series was created by Tim Federle, who previously created Disney’s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
Federle executive produces alongside Darren Swimmer, Todd Slavkin, Amanda Row and Bronwyn North-Reist. The series comes from Federle’s Chorus Boy Productions in association with Disney Kids & Family.
And while magical boarding schools, supernatural rivalries and forbidden romances certainly aren’t new ingredients, Coven Academy isn’t based on an existing book series or another established screen property. Disney is launching this one as an original world, with Crescent Veil and its mythology built specifically for the series.
When Is Coven Academy Released?
Coven Academy premieres on Freeform in the US on October 1, with the full season arriving on Disney+ and Hulu on October 2. The series is rated TV-PG-V in the US.
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