This Coven Academy review was made possible by Popped receiving advance screeners for all 21 episodes of Coven Academy.
Set in New Orleans, Coven Academy follows Briar (Malina Weissman), Tegan (Ora Duplass) and Sasha (Jordan Leftwich), three teenage witches attending Crescent Veil, where their developing powers quickly get wrapped up in a mystery surrounding Briar’s late mother and the school itself. Created by High School Musical: The Musical: The Series‘ Tim Federle, the 21-chapter series mixes witches, warlocks and vampires with murder, relationship drama and plenty of secrets. It is still a little crazy to me that this was originally commissioned for Disney Channel, because while the show is never particularly violent or even that scary, it feels much more young adult than most of what the network has put out in recent years.
The series pilot almost made me think the exact opposite. Briar arrives as the rebellious teenager who does not want to be there, thinks she knows best and immediately clashes with everyone around her. We even get the incredibly stereotypical “I hate it here” self-dialogue when she lands in New Orleans, which the show then basically never does again (pointless?) Add Ollie (Louis Thresher) as the mysterious boy picking her up from the airport, and it all feels very overdone. Thankfully, the show moves past that version of Briar pretty quickly, and she becomes much easier to like once we see more of her vulnerable side, especially through the mystery surrounding her mum.
The Coven Works
Briar, Tegan and Sasha are probably one of the best parts of Coven Academy. They all bring something different, both through their personalities and powers, and the trio works well together. The wider supernatural world is kept fairly simple too. We hear about werewolves, sea creatures and even another Coven Academy in Florence for the supreme witches, but most of the show stays in New Orleans with witches, warlocks and vampires.
I enjoyed how grounded the magic feels. It never becomes Harry Potter or Doctor Strange, where absolutely anything can happen because magic exists. Characters have their own abilities, there are clear limits, and the show doesn’t dwell too much on explaining every corner of its world. The vampires even have a cool little hangout where they drink blood out of test tubes, which was a fun reinvention of the well-evidenced culture in fictional media.,
The CGI is another story. Some of the spells look pretty cool, then you get something like the CG bees, and it looks crap. The inconsistency is what throws you off because one scene can completely sell the magic and the next pulls you straight out of it. By far, the weakest part of the series.
It Is VERY ‘American Horror Story: Coven’
The American Horror Story: Coven comparisons are obvious from the start, but it goes way beyond just witches in New Orleans. It is REALLY Coven. You have a school full of young witches who all have their own abilities, a girl who arrives at the school in the first episode, fleeing murder; a woman running the place who definitely has some Cordelia about her, older generations hiding secrets and different supernatural groups circling the school.
Obviously, Coven Academy is nowhere near as dark as American Horror Story, but the setup and some of the character dynamics are very similar. Graves especially has that same sense of being responsible for a group of young witches while trying to protect them from threats they do not always fully understand. The actual mystery side of the show probably reminds me more of Pretty Little Liars. Everyone seems to know something, everyone is hiding something, the adults all have history together, and the younger characters have their own overlapping relationships and secrets. Every time the show gives you one answer, it normally creates another question somewhere else. There is a bit of Riverdale in there too, except much less silly and somehow more grounded, which is funny considering this is literally a show with witches and vampires.
The murder mystery is fun, although I would not say every twist completely got me. There are a few things you can probably piece together before the characters do, but there is normally enough happening elsewhere that working one bit out does not suddenly give away everything else.
Malachi Barton Is Easily My Favourite
Jake (Malachi Barton) is easily my favourite part of Coven Academy. Barton has become such a confident performer over the last few years, most recently in Camp Rock 3, and there is something naturally endearing about him here that means you keep rooting for Jake even when he starts making some very questionable decisions. The character gets more complicated as the season goes on, but Barton handles that change well without Jake suddenly feeling like a completely different person.
The adult cast is good as well. Graves (Tiffani Thiessen) became one of my favourite characters because most of her decisions feel grounded and you can tell she puts the girls first, while Agnes (BJ Harrison) is basically the Nan of Crescent Veil. Cole (Devon Sawa) is much more mysterious and mischievous, particularly through his relationship with Jake, and their scenes together give Barton some of his strongest material.
Tim Federle Without The Musical
Tim Federle doing Coven Academy was one of the things that interested me when it was announced. He is so heavily associated with musicals through HSMTMTS, Better Nate Than Ever, The Greatest Showman musical for the West End and now the next Romy and Michele project, so a supernatural teen drama stood out.
Without knowing his name was attached, I am not sure I would immediately guess this was his, but there are definitely bits of Federle in there. The young ensemble, the queer undertones and the way friendships and relationships overlap all feel familiar.
And while Coven Academy is not a musical, the soundtrack is brilliant. Olivia Rodrigo, Sienna Spiro, Lady Gaga and KATSEYE all appear at different points, and it reminded me of how good the music was in Goosebumps and Goosebumps: The Vanishing.
Does ‘Coven Academy’ Stick The Landing?
It does. The final few chapters bring the main mystery together while still leaving enough open for another season, including a tease of something bigger and darker still out there. I would absolutely watch Season 2. I would maybe make it a little shorter overall, but keep the same flexible episode lengths because that format is such a big part of why the show works.
The episode structure might be my favourite thing about Coven Academy. There are 21 chapters, but the whole season is only around 300 minutes, with episodes ranging from roughly 10 to 24 minutes. There is very little filler and almost every chapter ends on some kind of twist, reveal or cliffhanger, so even when the formula becomes obvious, it still pulls you straight into the next one.
It also feels like a strong, and much-needed experiment for the digital age. We are used to short-form content and constantly jumping between things, and Coven Academy finds a nice middle ground between that and traditional TV. The fast pace and flexible runtimes really work, and every chapter feels written to be that length rather than chopped up afterwards.
‘Coven Academy’ Review – Final Thoughts
I really liked Coven Academy. The CGI can look awful, the pilot is easily the weakest part, and some of the mystery is easier to predict than the show probably intends, but once it gets going, there is an enjoyable young adult supernatural series here. Malachi Barton’s Jake is easily the standout for me, the central coven works, Graves is great, and the soundtrack gives the whole thing even more personality.
Coven Academy premieres October 1 on Freeform, with all episodes streaming on Disney+ and Hulu from October 2.
