‘Coven Academy’ Star Cecilia Deacon Talks the Show’s Shocking Twist: ‘I Hope We Get to Unravel More’ (Exclusive)
Cecilia Deacon opens up about playing Mary, the supernatural series’ shocking finale and hopes for Season 2.
Key Takeaways
- Cecilia Deacon stars as Mary on Disney's new series, 'Coven Academy'.
- The actress talks about bringing a sisterhood to life in the show and the importance of that.
- Deacon shared that if she could choose, she would love to have teleportation abilities.
In Coven Academy’s world of magical spells, supernatural creatures and witches, Cecilia Deacon’s character, Mary, is a ghost—formerly a witch.
Deacon stars as the mother of the young and powerful witch Briar, who goes on a mission to find out what really happened to her mother. Once in New Orleans at Crescent Veil Academy, an elite magical boarding school, Briar discovers her own powers and the ones her mother possessed before her death.
Throughout the first season of Coven Academy, Briar encounters other witches, warlocks, vampires and more as the secrets of her mother’s life begin to unravel. Meanwhile, she finds herself in a forbidden romance and surrounded by more deadly secrets than she can handle.
Woman’s World recently spoke with Cecilia Deacon about Coven Academy, her character’s mysterious past and which type of powers she would choose to have.
Woman’s World: You star in the new series Coven Academy. Can you share a bit about the series?
Cecilia Deacon: Coven Academy is about a group of young witches in a magical academy in New Orleans, their adventures and their misadventures, both personal and the broad supernatural adventures that they have while navigating both new and old rivalries within their world. My character, Mary, is Briar’s mom, who’s played by Malina Pauli Weissman, who’s lovely and gorgeous and absolutely hardworking. Mary is very mysterious. There are a lot of question marks about her, and part of what sets Briar on her journey is her mother’s mysterious death. As she learns more about her mom, she starts to learn more about herself, which I think is a very special comment on self-discovery and family dynamics.
WW: Coven Academy is all about magic and secrets—what drew you to this darker, more mysterious project?
Cecilia Deacon: One thing that I particularly enjoy about the world that Tim [Federle, show creator] built is the magic and folklore elements. That is something that I’ve always really loved. They brought together a lot of very interesting pieces for that. From a spooky perspective, I’m okay with spooky, but this is about as scary as I like, being a part of a world that pushes the bounds of what we’re capable of exploring in real life. I can’t do any of the cool teleporting things or lightning bolts from the fingertips in real life. These worlds set up a big opportunity to explore the emotional inner lives of people because they’re very extreme situations.
WW: Mary plays an important role in Briar’s story, even through the flashbacks. What was it like to approach playing a character whose past is essential to the mystery?
Cecilia Deacon: It’s sort of the same as it always is. You ground your character with the roots of what it is to be human. People come with the same set of emotional hardware. Some people lead with anger. Some people lead with love. Mary certainly leads with love, even though we don’t see her in the present tense. All of the flashbacks, and even when she’s summoned, are about the love for her daughter and her sisters in her coven. Sometimes people don’t always make understandable decisions, even when they’re coming from a place of love, and that’s where I’d say some of her mystery comes from. But certainly, I grounded her through her love of Briar.
WW: What was your favorite part of playing Mary?
Cecilia Deacon: My favorite part of playing Mary was meeting the people that I got to work with. I feel very lucky for the people that I got to meet on this project. Mary was a joy to embody because of how much love she possesses, and lots of fabulous things involved in the supernatural. But the thing that comes to mind immediately is what an absolute joy it was to work with Malina, with Jordan [Leftwich], with Ora [Duplass], Tiffany [Thiessen] and Keegan [Connor].
WW: The series is all about magic and there’s a bit of romance, but a major part of the show is the sisterhood and friendship aspect. Why do you feel like that was important to include in the series?
Cecilia Deacon: It’s a remark on found family. It’s a special thing to meet people who become family to you. The word that we use in the show for a coven is sisters because they’re family and that’s a pretty magical thing to encounter and it can be incredibly powerful. The other component is that it speaks to what we’re encountering in the world these days. We all do best when we lead with love. Sometimes we don’t always agree and it can be a very big challenge, but it is important to lead with as much of that as we can. Women, throughout time and space, have been very powerful, but not always given the respect or space in the broad social or cultural narratives. I hope a reminder to everyone who watches the show is that women are very powerful.
WW: Your character is in a coven with Emma (Tiffani Thiessen) and Tamora (Keegan Connor Tracy). What was it like to bring that sisterhood to life on the screen with these actors?
Cecilia Deacon: I feel very lucky because, just as it was with Malina, it was so simple. This is where the skill of casting comes into play. I know Tim [Federle] has spoken about how tricky it can be with casting, bringing lots of people together and thinking ahead long term. But there’s also the chemistry component because it was really simple to sit down with Keegan and Tiffani and feel like we’ve been having dinners and chatting for ages.
WW: The show has supernatural elements, but it’s also a family drama. What was it like to balance those emotional moments with the supernatural of it all?
Cecilia Deacon: A lot of the special effects components aren’t happening at the moment. Some things are, and then it can be a little trickier because you’re waiting for the fog to roll in or the lightning to flash before you start. The special effects can be a bit of a mystery to us as well. We read them on the page and we try to embody them in the scenes, but then it’s all up to post-production to work their magic and really bring it all in. It can feel a little self-conscious trying to embody a magical component that doesn’t have an immediate sensory or visual cue, but that’s where you have to trust your team… It’s all a grand experiment.
WW: What about Coven Academy do you think makes it stand out from other supernatural series?
Cecilia Deacon: It comes down to structure because it’s masterful storytelling. Tim and Todd [Slavkin] and Darren [Swimmer] and so many of the writers and directors developed so many facets to these characters that allow them to do very fast-paced storytelling in a really unique way. My writer’s brain was very intrigued by how they structured each episode, so I personally enjoy that. I think that’s a very big part of why it’s as fabulous as it is and why people are enjoying it.
WW: The series ends on a major cliffhanger, which is that your character isn’t actually Briar’s mother. What about a potential Season 2 are you most excited for fans to see when it comes to Mary’s story?
Cecilia Deacon: I would love more time with everyone and I hope that we get a chance to unravel a little bit more of [Mary’s] mystery.
WW: Now a couple of quick-fire questions. Coven Academy has all of the supernatural creatures—witches, warlocks, vampires, werewolves—If you could choose, would you rather be a witch, vampire or werewolf?
Cecilia Deacon: Absolutely a witch.
WW: There are also a lot of powers used in the show—time bending, shape shifting and more—if you could choose one power, which would you want?
Cecilia Deacon: Teleportation. I feel that I spend so much time in traffic or waiting in airport lines. It would be so handy for maximizing your day-to-day schedule. I would never have to worry about parking ever again.
WW: There are a lot of secrets at Crescent Veil Academy. If you had to share a secret with one character, which would you trust?
Cecilia Deacon: I’d say Miss Graves [Tiffani Thiessen]. She keeps things very on the down low.
WW: If you can describe Coven Academy in three words, how would you describe the show to someone who is looking to watch it?
Cecilia Deacon: Magical certainly comes up, love and sisterhood.
WW: As a witch, would you rather be casting spells or brewing potions?
Cecilia Deacon: I’d say make potions because I like to do at-home spa concoctions. But I’m also in the middle of being utterly sick of my own cooking, so because of that, I’m gonna go with casting spells because I can’t imagine using the stove right now.
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