Pictured (L-R): Shelley Hennig (back to camera) as Diana and Natasha Henstridge as Dawn in "The Secret Circle" on The CW. Photo: Liane Hentscher/CBS
Natacha Henstridge spoke recently about her role in The Secret Circle as principal of a school where a family of witches attend and is something of a double agent for the antagonist of the series.
“I think one of the great things about this character is, although she is very much a strong ‑‑ a strong woman again ‑‑ yet again playing another strong woman,” Henstridge says, focusing on the character, the script that she genuinely wanted, as several jaded entertainment journalists record and write her every word. “Fantastic. I love it. But, yeah, I’m playing the principal of the school and the mother of Faye Chamberlain (Phoebe Tonkin), who is sort of the one kind of pulling the strings, kind of making things happen,” Henstridge says of the chance to demonstrate her gear-changing as an actor. “It is sort of in the center of the school and the principal gets to sort of keep an eye on everything, all of the goings‑on in the school and ‑‑ but is a much more dynamic character than I even originally thought she would be.
“She does some not so great things and definitely has an agenda but also has a real, sort of, moral scale in which she has morals. They are very unusual morals, but they are there nonetheless, which makes the character a lot of fun to play because I think playing a straightforward villain, all the way, is less interesting unless you care about the character. So I think she’s a cool character in that way.”
To the question of ‘will she ride a broom,’ Henstridge deadpans “Do you know what? Season 6, if the ratings get bad, I’ve already suggested a musical version. You never know. I mean, why not?”
With a literate script of a witch-driven story and Henstridge anchoring the character-end of the show, a musical version (or 3-D gimmick version) will never be necessary.
The Secret Circle appears Thursday evenings on The CW Television Network, based on the L.J. Smith book trilogy The Initiation, The Captive, The Power.