Disney’s Coven Academy premieres on October 1 just in time for spooky season. Based on the latest trailer, released on September 18, the witches and warlocks aren’t messing around in this school. In the heart of New Orleans, teen witches and warlocks learn how to handle their powers while regulating their emotions. It’s not as easy as it sounds when they’re tasked with facing deadly secrets, dangerous powers, and forbidden love. Witches and warlocks aren’t the only supernatural creatures in New Orleans; vampires lurk nearby.
One vampire in particular catches the newly discovered witch, Briar (Malina Pauli Weissman), upon her arrival from New York to Coven Academy. Joining a magical boarding school wasn’t the top of her bucket list. Still, neither was getting caught in a love triangle with two supernatural boys: Jake (Malachi Barton), a witch at her school and in her coven, and Ollie (Louis Thresher), a newly turned vampire. Despite her hope to learn all she can and leave, Briar finds herself stuck defending her new city, coven, and forbidden love.
The Coven Academy trailer is just over two minutes, but it shows a lot of promising storylines. I’ve narrowed it down to three moments I’m most excited for. Let me just say, I’m already impressed with this show after only two minutes of mixed and matched clips.
Olivia Rodrigo’s hit song 'Brutal' backdrop
From the creator of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Tim Federle, comes a teen supernatural dramedy that packs a punch. The trailer is filled with magical chaos and also features Olivia Rodrigo’s hit song “Brutal” as the backdrop. It makes sense because Rodrigo starred in HSMTMTS. Although her pop star career took her away from Disney, it’s nice to see her music making new waves in a debut season trailer.
Rodrigo’s lyrics, “I feel like no one wants me. And I hate the way I'm perceived,” couldn’t have arrived at a better time in the trailer. Briar wants nothing to do with her newfound witch powers or the academy when she arrives via a taxi at the front gates. But the issues don’t start until she meets with Miss Graves (Tiffani Thiessen), who brings up anger issues. That’s when the connection between Briar’s character and Rodrigo’s lyrics melts together.
Essentially, I think we’ll see Briar struggle with not being wanted in her coven, hating how she’s perceived by strangers, and struggling to control the powers building inside her. At the end of the day, she’s just trying her best in a brutal world that may look down on teenagers. In the midst of danger, she’s anything but a damsel in distress. She may be a witch in training, but she’s not helpless.
Briar's powers and coven
I’m eager to see Briar’s background and how she discovered she was a witch. Unfortunately, the trailer doesn’t dig into that part of her character, although Deadline shared a brief character description: “a fiercely independent New Yorker who discovers she’s a witch.” Not only is she discovering her new powers and attending a new boarding school, but she also moves from the lively city of New York to the haunted part of New Orleans. From the trailer, I can already tell she’s going to need a minute to settle in and find her bearings.
Quickly, she finds out that her powers are heightened by her anger issues that Miss Graves so kindly points out and experiences firsthand. Soon Tegan (Ora Duplass), “an irreverent time-bending witch,” and Sasha (Jordan Leftwich), “a deeply empathic student,” take Briar into their group and assure her she’ll learn to control her powers. Especially after Briar sees McKenna (Swayam Bhatia) excel at her powers with ease in front of a crowd. As Sasha says, "The skills you learn at Coven Academy can battle all evil,” meaning her powers will succeed her wildest dreams. Just because she can’t wield her powers at ease like Sasha now doesn't mean she won’t be able to after lessons and practice.
Not a Damsel in Distress
She may be tiny, but Briar will not be known as a damsel in distress. She makes sure to make that notion crystal clear to Jake. Briar goes as far as getting in Jake’s face when he yells at her for being on the wrong side of town. Despite everything, she doesn’t need rescuing. Her independent nature leads her into the arms of a vampire, putting her coven at risk. Although Ollie swoons her with roses, magic, and trust, he’s not a safe person for her. Jake and Sasha try to warn her, but forbidden love is addicting when you know it's off-limits.
Briar ends up in the middle of Jake, a “magnetic warlock with a dangerous edge,” and Ollie, “a hungry, newly turned vampire." With danger knocking, Jake makes things worse by threatening Ollie to stay away from Briar. She continues to remind Jake that she doesn’t need a bodyguard. Unbeknownst to her, Mr. Cole (Devon Sawa), a warlock professor, has been warning Jake that Briar is in serious danger. Understandably, Jake wants to protect her, but Briar doesn’t seem to want to ease up on being her own protection.
Coven Academy premieres October 1, 2026, on Freeform, and streams the next day on Disney+, Hulu, and Freeform On Demand.
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