SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Coven Academy,” now streaming on Disney+. The series, set at a New Orleans boarding school for witches and warlocks, is bloodier and darker than the network ever got with other magical fare like “Wizards of Waverly Place.” Ultimately, those qualities drove Disney to decide “Coven Academy” would be more at home on Freeform. As more and more of the higher ups at the company watched the show and got excited, there was a decision made, which was that this doesn’t belong there; it’s the wrong signal.” “And yet,” he adds, “because of the sisterhood and magic, I feel this is still classically Disney.
If you’ve watched ‘Zombies’ and ‘Descendants’ and ‘Vampirina,’ and maybe you’re also dipping a toe into older genre shows, I think this is a bridge.” “Coven Academy” stars Malina Weissman as Briar, whose grief and anger about the unsolved murder of her mother, Mary, end up revealing a part of her identity she’d never known: She’s a witch. After reluctantly starting school in New Orleans, she befriends two fellow witches, Sasha (Jordan Leftwich) and Tegan (Ora Duplass), who teach her the ways of the magical world and help her search for answers about Mary (Cecilia Grace Deacon). That process requires the young witches to break some rules, attracting the watchful eye of the school’s headmaster, Miss Graves (Tiffani Thiessen), who they realize was close friends with Briar’s mother.
Miss Graves’ secrecy, and some information shared by one of their teachers, Mr. Cole (Devon Sawa), lead them to believe that she’s the murderer. But it’s later revealed that the real Mr.
Cole is locked in a basement. A shapeshifting Warlock named William — who turns out to be the father of the girls’ friend Jake (Malachi Barton) — has taken Mr. Cole’s place as part of a decades-long evil scheme.
He had been friends with Mary back in school until she, Graves and their coven sister Tamora (Keegan Connor Tracy) thwarted his plan to pollute the ley lines, the mystical source of all witches’ and warlocks’ powers. The coven interrupted a spell he was casting that would have made it so that they could all use only dark magic, which would lead to the eradication of monsters like the werewolves that killed his family. Decades later, he had come out of hiding to try again, and didn’t hesitate to kill anyone in his way — including Mary.
Briar, Sasha, Tegan and Graves — with an assist from Jake — manage to stop William and save the magical world. But as everyone processes their whirlwind semester at school, Briar can’t stop thinking about the connection she felt when Graves grabbed her hand to cast the spell on William. At the same time, Graves is shown speaking to Mary’s ghost in the woods.
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