THE SECRET CIRCLE: Enter the World of Witches, Bad Girls and High School Principals

The cast of the new supernatural series The Secret Circle, which will debut on the CW on September 15 (following the return of the hit series The Vampire Diaries) made an appearance at last month’s Comic Con in San Diego.

Phoebe Tonkin as Faye in The Secret Circle

Two of the show’s cast members – Phoebe Tonkin and Natasha Henstridge – sat down with members of the press and NiceGirlsTV was there to get the scoop from the pair who play mother and daughter witches.

Question: (As an Australian), how does it feel to be on an American television show? And, did you audition just for the role of Faye or other characters?

Phoebe: It’s good. I mean it’s kinda crazy. I grew up watching all these sort of CW-like shows and all these American shows that we get over there and to be part of it is pretty cool. I actually tried out for the part of Diana (but) then I ended up auditioning for Faye. To be honest, I just really wanted to be on the show. I loved the script, I loved the idea (and) I loved Kevin. So, I’m lucky that I got it.

Question: Can you both tell us a little bit about your characters?

Phoebe: Faye is very unpredictable, (she’s) hungry for power, but I don’t necessarily think she wants to hurt people. I don’t think she’s quite that bad; she just doesn’t think about things. Magic is her vice, and for normal teenagers who want to lash out, they go and party; but for Faye, she just wants to cause trouble with her magic.

Natasha: I play Dawn Chamberlain, who is the principal of the high school where all the kids in the circle attend. I also play the mother of Faye, (who is) the resident bad girl. Some people could say I play the villain, but I think she really genuinely believes she is bringing these kids together, getting the circle together, because her generation has lost their powers because of deaths and without the full circle you can’t have the power so she’s sort of using her daughter to get the circle together to get the power for something that is really, really big and powerful. I think in her head (what she is doing is) for the greater good. But (she) does a lot of evil things to get there.

Question: Are we going to see Faye’s more vulnerable side?

Phoebe: Definitely! I think there are going to be some really nice scenes with her mother (where) you (will) see why she is the way she is. She has a reason for being (this) way. I think (she is the way she is because of) her mother and not having a father. We will get to explore that in the show.

Question: What do you think motivates your character? Her daughter or the power?

Natasha: Getting power is her biggest motivation. I think she definitely does not want to hurt her daughter (as) she genuinely loves her daughter. (But) whatever (reasons) she needs all this power for; (it) is going to be the most important thing.

Question: Are we going to see flashbacks to learn more about Dawn’s past?

Natasha Henstridge (Photo Credit: Jennifer Schadel)

Natasha: I’m going to say yes because I’ve had some conversations with Kevin (Williamson, the Executive Producer of the show) and I think you’re going to get to know and see a little bit more about that generation and see what happened.

Question: The last couple of roles that you’ve played (Eli Stone and Drop Dead Diva), you’ve been an attorney. What parts do you like to play best?

Natasha: I think all of those characters had a lot of similarities and I’ve been lucky to be cast in roles where I get to play really intelligent women. I’m drawn to that and it’s also very fun to play vulnerability (and to play characters) you want to care about.

Question: How do you want to see your character develop?

Phoebe: I think it will be nice to see why Faye is the way she is…just to make her feel more real and to see how far we can push things with magic and (to) see if she eventually does kind of realize that she doing these things are not really good and that maybe she’ll start to pull back and start becoming good again. It’ll be nice to play both sides – between the good and the bad – and I think she’s a good girl at heart. I don’t think she’s evil; she just doesn’t know that she’s doing these things that have these horrible consequences.

The Secret Circle premieres Thursday, September 15 at 9/8c on the CW.