The Secret Circle by L.J. Smith
I can all too vividly remember when The Secret Circle was canceled by The CW—and I’m still bitter as hell about it.
The show premiered in 2011 and was full of magic and drama. It not only kept me hooked but had a stellar cast (and executive producer) as well. When it came time for a renewal, the fans flocked to Twitter to wait for the network’s decision. That’s when the sh*t hit the fan. A media outlet falsely reported that the show had gotten picked up for a second season and joy turned to heartbreak when, minutes later, the announcement was corrected to say the show was axed from The CW’s lineup. Despite irate fans, and a robust “Save The Secret Circle” campaign, the teen drama ultimately didn’t garner enough viewership to make the exec’s change their minds.
Dahh, but there’s still so many questions! Would Diana have given in to her black magic? Would Adam and Melissa have become a romantic thing? Would Faye and Diana ever have admitted their feelings for each other? Even years later, not knowing kills me. So I decided to go straight to the source.
Andrew Miller, co-creator and executive producer of The Secret Circle, chats with BookTrib about finding out that The CW wasn’t going to renew his supernatural brainchild. Miller shares how he felt about the gut-wrenching news, gives us a small peek into what could have been, shares some behind-the-scenes pics and admits that he’s totally onboard for a Secret Circle revival (however that may come to fruition).
So… Lock, unlock!
BOOKTRIB: What was your initial reaction to finding out that the CW was not going to renew the show for another season?
ANDREW MILLER: As we got to the end of the season, I had a pretty good feeling we wouldn’t be picked up. The CW’s excitement for their new pilots was pretty overwhelming.
BT: Were you on Twitter when a media outlet said that The Secret Circle was renewed and then retracted their statement saying it was actually canceled? Everyone was pretty outraged by that (not so little) mistake.
AM: Yes. It was awful. I was hiding from the internet, fearing the worst, when I got a text from Phoebe saying we’d been picked up. Then sure enough, Twitter was all over TSC season 2 and I was thrilled beyond belief. Right until I saw that retraction. It was absolutely heartbreaking. Like the worst ever practical joke. And instead of just being depressed, I was depressed and embarrassed.
BT: If The Secret Circle were to return, where would you leave off?
AM: Those Blackwell kids were going to cause a lot of problems. Their unity and sense of purpose made them much more powerful than our fragmented and emotionally messed up heroes. And worst of all they were going to make dark magic look fun. Coming together and accepting the responsibility to stop them was going to be a tall order for Cassie and the others. It’s not as easy to do the right thing as a lot of shows make it out to be.
BT: I chatted with Jessica Parker Kennedy not too long ago and she said she would totally be down for a Secret Circle movie, would you ever be on board if money fell from the sky and we got the rights to it?
AM: In a second! A movie, a play, a commercial campaign for crystals, you name it. Alloy asked me if I had any interest in trying a lower budget version of the show that could be done on Netflix and I pitched them an idea I really loved and would’ve done in a second. Following Diana after the finale to California, where she was alone and confused and struggling between her good nature and the dark magic she just accessed to kill her father. My dream was to set her life up in California, then bring in Faye to mess it up.
BT: Do the fans still tweet you about Fayana? I know Phoebe Tonkin and Shelley Hennig are still supporters of the ‘ship! We hope we’d see that if the show were ever to get resurrected.
AM: I get occasional Fayana tweets, but never enough. The chemistry between Shelley and Phoebe was very special and I’m with anyone who wished we could’ve seen more of it.
Recommended reading:
The Secret Circle series by L.J. Smith (Harper Teen)
For those fans of The Secret Circle that want to take an abstract trip down memory lane, the Secret Circle book series is a good place to start. Although not everything covered in the books happens in the series, you can get a pretty good look at our beloved characters.
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