One Million Moms is calling on parents to boycott Coven Academy ahead of its October 1 premiere, and if history is any guide, that kind of campaign tends to do the opposite of what it intends. Alerts like this one reliably drive more attention, not less, to the show they’re trying to keep people away from.
One Million Moms, a conservative advocacy group, published an alert this week warning parents that the show promotes witchcraft to children and teens, citing Isaiah 8:19-22 and Deuteronomy 18:10-11 as biblical warnings against sorcery and consulting mediums. The group pointed to the trailer’s witch sisterhood theme, teen romance, and vampire elements, and is asking supporters to sign a pledge not to support Disney or the series, then share that pledge on social media and by email.
We already had Coven Academy on our radar as part of Freeform’s 31 Nights of Halloween 2026 schedule, where it’s set to open the month as a new original series premiere.
This isn’t a new pattern, and it’s worth actually sitting with why it keeps happening. A boycott alert like this one routinely climbs to the top of Disney news search results within a day or two of publishing, often from outlets that rarely appear there for anything else. That visibility cuts both ways. Plenty of people scrolling past a headline like “parents warned against new Disney witch show” are going to do the opposite of what the group wants and go check out the trailer for themselves, especially with a straightforward premise like this one. Outrage coverage functions as free marketing whether or not that’s the intent, and Coven Academy is a pretty mild target for it, a teen supernatural drama in the same lane as dozens of shows that have aired for years without this kind of pushback.
There’s a second story here that’s gotten a lot less attention than the boycott alert, and it’s arguably more newsworthy. When Disney Branded Television first announced Coven Academy back in August 2025, the plan was for it to air on Disney+ and Disney Channel. That’s how it stayed in early reporting for months. At some point before this year’s teaser trailer dropped in mid-August, the show quietly moved to Freeform instead, first reported by Just Jared Jr. Disney hasn’t publicly explained the change, but it fits Freeform’s history as the home for Disney’s more teen-skewing, genre-leaning content, distinct from Disney Channel’s younger audience.
Created by Tim Federle, the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series creator, Coven Academy is set in New Orleans and follows three teenage witches and their warlock classmates at an elite magic school, rated TV-PG-V. The series unfolds across 21 short chapters airing in weekly blocks, with the first four dropping on premiere night. It premieres October 1 at 8 p.m. ET on Freeform, with the full season streaming the next day on Disney+, Hulu, and Freeform on Demand. The cast includes Malina Pauli Weissman as Briar, Malachi Barton as Jake, Jordan Leftwich as Sasha, Ora Duplass as Tegan, Louis Thresher as Ollie, and Tiffani Thiessen as Miss Graves, with Devon Sawa appearing as a guest star.
One Million Moms Boycotts Coven Academy Ahead of Its October 1 Freeform Premiere
