Thomas Dekker and the Cast of "The Secret Circle" Hope to Put Viewers Under Their Spell

Vampires worked for The CW, so why not witches? That would seem to be the general theory behind the network’s decision to greenlight their new drama The Secret Circle, which stars Britt Robertson (Life Unexpected) as Cassie, an orphaned teenage girl who discovers that, as a result of her lineage, she holds the key to an ancient battle between good and evil.

Or, at least, that’s what the press release says, anyway.

Interest in The Secret Circle is immediately upped by the news that it’s based on a series of books by L. J. Smith, who … what’s this? ... is also the creator of The Vampire Diaries, and there’s also some sci-fi street cred in the form of star Thomas Dekker, late of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Lastly, lest we forget, the series is executive-produced by the out Kevin Williamson, whose gift for teen drama extends all the way back to Dawson’s Creek and has continued all the way through the aforementioned Vampire Diaries.

“What I love so much about L. J. Smith’s world is that she taps into the stuff that I love,” said Williamson, during the TCA panel for The Secret Circle. “She taps into my happy place, which is sort of, you know, a lot of the growing up, the coming of age, the teen angst. The betrayal, the deceit, the friendship, the loyalty, the love, the murder, the mayhem… all of that stuff is my happy place. But then she mixes it with the genre which I love, and she spins it all around. One of the challenges is adapting that to a series, because in the books, she really delves into the history and the past and the future and all these different areas. It’s often hard, but it’s also fun.”

Dekker – who plays Adam, one of the series’ other magical denizens – is part of a love triangle with Robertson and their fellow co-star Shelly Hennig, who plays Diana.

Britt Robertson and Thomas Dekker

“It’s kind of a fun discovery… for all of us,” Dekker explained in the panel. “It’s not just a teen lustful attraction between the two of us. It’s linked to our blood and our ancestry, which is the core of the whole show. There’s a destiny for the two of us, but there’s also a massive amount of loyalty between myself and Diana. It’s probably the central inner conflict for my character, is dealing with dealing with this almost insatiable physical situation with Britt that’s very dangerous and very new and then dealing with this very safe and comfortable devotion to this other character. There’s a lot of inner conflict going on for my character.”

Asked how overt the link between sexuality and witchcraft was meant to be, writer Andrew Miller said, “We’re trying to explore magic in all its wonderful forms. And I think, because it’s an empowerment story and because of the age of these characters they’re not 140 years old and they’re experiencing these things for the first time: first love, first betrayal, first these friendships that will hopefully last forever. And I think sexuality is a part of that, but it’s not the whole picture. We’re just trying to use the witchcraft as a backdrop to explore otherwise relatable issues that these kids are going through as they transition into adulthood and as they define themselves.”

It’s not just about teen lustful attraction on The Secret Circle, though. There are a few fully-grown adults in the mix as well, including Natasha Henstridge, who, as Principal Dawn Chamberlain, does her best to keep an eye on all the up-and-coming witches attending her high school.

AfterElton.com caught up with Henstridge at the network’s all-star party and got a giggle out of her when we described her as one of the “elders” of the show.

“How about medium-generationers?” she suggested, still laughing. “What’s funny, though, is that we had a cast dinner, and when I saw (42-year-old co-star) Gale Harold, I thought he was one of the high school kids! Everybody’s, like, ‘You can’t have a daughter in high school!’ But, apparently, the story goes that they all had kids when they were 15 or 16-years-old. I can live with that.”

Williamson also told AfterElton that as of now there are no gay characters on the show, mostly because there weren’t any in the original books. Given that creating the show already involved condensing the number of characters, Williamson simply didn’t see a way to make that happen.

The Secret Circle premieres Thursday Sept. 15 on The CW