Secret Circle Boss on Finale's 'Epic' Body Count, Unlikely Romance and Blackwell's Endgame

Secret Circle Boss on Finale's 'Epic' Body Count, Unlikely Romance and Blackwell's Endgame

Witches, crystal skulls and romantic triangles — yep, it’s time for the season finale of The CW’s The Secret Circle (airing tonight at 9/8c)! With the show yet to be picked for a sophomore run, executive producer Andrew Miller promises a conclusion that’s “satisfying” yet “titillating,” in that it sets up new storylines. Oh, and there will be death. But — and we hate to break this to you — one person won’t be in the finale at all.

TVLine also got the scoop on Charles’ unraveling, what Blackwell’s plans mean for Diana and Cassie’s sisterly bond, and whether romance is in the cards for Adam and Melissa.

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TVLINE | We just learned quite a bit about Blackwell’s intentions. What is the Circle going to do with this information in the finale?
They’re sort of in a bind because on the one hand, they want nothing to do with Blackwell. And after last week’s revelations, [they] don’t want him anywhere near the crystals or the crystal skull. And yet, they’re going to quickly find out that they need the power of the crystal skull to get Faye. The episode is hinged on just how far each one of them is willing to go to rescue Faye. They all want to; but how to do that is up for grabs because it directly ties into not how much they can trust Blackwell, but how much they can outsmart him. That’s a tricky proposition because Cassie’s mother tried to do it 16 years ago and failed. Now Cassie wants to try it again.

TVLINE | Blackwell’s been carrying out this agenda for decades now. What is the endgame?
We’re going to find out the endgame in this episode, and why he came to Chance Harbor to begin with and what he wanted with Cassie and what he wants with the crystal skull. For Blackwell, there are a few more chess moves still to be played in this finale.

TVLINE | Cassie and Diana’s relationship really has the potential to go in any direction. How is what they learned about Blackwell going to affect that dynamic?
It affects it a lot. Cassie may have had a kind of destiny to fulfill with Adam when she arrived, but it’s Diana who really reached out to her first. … The end of this episode really puts this relationship to the test, and they make very strong demands of each other as sisters, as friends. What they end up doing at the end of the episode really, strongly redefines their relationship as we move [forward].

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TVLINE | In a preview, it appears the gang might be getting their solo powers back. Is the Circle crumbling?
They will come to realize that in order to save the Circle they have to divide the Circle — though that won’t necessarily be true. What they’re hoping to accomplish will be much more complicated than they think going into it, but it does result in unbinding the Circle. How that act affects them – though it was done in such a positive way, to help Faye – ends up putting them in more danger than they counted on.

TVLINE | Adam and Melissa have been spending a lot of time together. Is there some romance brewing there, pun intended?
[Laughs] Well, it’s a question for next season. Adam and Melissa have developed into the anti-Faye and Jake, in that Faye and Jake have this incredibly strong, dense emotional armor that protects them from anything, and it’s hard to crack through. [Melissa and Adam] are definitely getting closer. Whether that blooms into something remains to be seen, although there are some hints in this finale between Adam and Melissa and between Adam and Cassie. What happens to Adam as his story is completed over the course of this episode really points to an exciting, questionable relationship for next season.

TVLINE | Where does that leave the Adam/Cassie/Jake love triangle? Are you downplaying that right now?
The Jake part of it, yes. The Adam and Cassie… I don’t know if I’d say downplaying that aspect. For Cassie, the Adam love connection has just been hard to fully grasp. With Jake, he and Cassie have a very weird relationship that I like a lot. Last week, Faye was able to crack through that armor I was talking about in a way that no one really has, and that’s going to affect him in this episode. The Jake/Faye relationship is going to move forward a little, so the Cassie triangle has been eased up on a bit.

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TVLINE | We haven’t seen Ethan in a while. Is he going to come back into play in the finale?
Ethan isn’t playing in the finale. He is in spirit, but for technical reasons, we weren’t able to include [actor Adam Harrington, who was filming the Fox pilot Mob Doctor] in the finale, although we desperately wanted to. We concentrate heavily on Dawn and Charles. Ultimately, we weren’t able to finish the Ethan story the way we wanted exactly, but we’re poised to do so next year.

TVLINE | Charles is starting to unravel. How is that going to play out with the Blackwell/Dawn/Charles power struggle?
Charles has done a lot of bad things in his lifetime. He has spent a lot of time confusing magic with strength or magical power with strength of character. And it’s relatively easy to use magic to get the things we want or make people do the things we want them to do, but that doesn’t make you a strong person. For him to be the father he purports to be, he’s going to have to take a harder path than he’s been taking. We’ll find out who Charles is as a man in this episode, when he decides how far he’ll go to save Diana.

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TVLINE | The show has still not been officially renewed. Did that make writing the finale difficult?
No, because we’ve been headed in this one direction … desperate to answer all the questions that we’ve been bringing up for the last 21 episodes. So we felt that, without question, there was a responsibility to our audience to create a satisfying ending to the story we’ve been telling. It’s an epic, big episode that has “season finale!” written on every scene. Whether we get picked up or not, I think it’ll be a very satisfying end to the story and a very titillating [hint at] what hopefully will come next season.

TVLINE | If you had to give the CW one reason to renew you guys, what’s your pitch?
Cast. I just think we have the best cast on television. Our kids are so talented — they surprise me every week, and they will only get better. We know how to write for them better.

TVLINE | I can’t let you go without asking about the body count in this finale.
[Laughs] There will be death. There will be blood. There will be magic. You can’t have an epic episode with all our characters wielding magic without some casualties. So there will be some death. But what’s more interesting than the deaths themselves is who’s committing the deaths.


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