THE SECRET CIRCLE’s Adam Harrington on Ethan’s Big Decision, His Relationship with Adam, Charles and More

While all the kids in THE SECRET CIRCLE have parental issues, poor Adam has had to deal with his father’s alcohol problem impacting every aspect of his life. And now, it seems Ethan is about to spill something to his son’s girlfriend that is going to cause even more trouble for them.

Uh-oh…

I talked with Adam Harrington (Ethan) about his character’s drinking issues, his bigger impact in the next few episodes, what he wants to see happen and more..

We haven’t seen Ethan in a while. What can you tease about his return?
Adam Harrington: Well, Ethan always seems to make an impact, we know that. [Laughs] Obviously, you know, episode five was a big episode with the tragic murder of Nick and it ended up triggering Ethan into having a lot of memories of the past, which of course he likes to deal with by drinking more. So…actually the next two episodes for Ethan are really exciting. In a good and a bad way. The drinking, of course, triggers him to end up telling Diana something he shouldn’t and it has a serious impact on her relationship with Adam. It’s big.

Can you tease a little more about that? Is it something about his son or Cassie?
AH: Well, I know that we have a new character coming in and it kind of shakes up the dynamic of the group. And Cassie and [Jake], there’s something between the two of them and if effects Adam. And I think what Ethan’s worried about is that with his own past — remember that everybody just kind of writes Ethan off as the town drunk, but he was there sixteen years ago. And I think the amount of drinking just points to how much he’s trying to forget what happened. But [Ethan] kept getting really worried that Adam is going to, by messing with fate, end up following in his own dad’s footsteps and from Ethan’s experience, that did not turn out well.

I think that he’s drunk and he said something he shouldn’t have, and I think he’s worried about what’s happening in his group because they’re going down the same path and something bad is going to happen.

Right. And obviously Adam and Cassie, that relationship parallels Ethan’s relationship with Cassie’s mom. Is he worried about his son following down that romantic path as well?
AH: Well, I think he’s worried he’s going to match his fate. He sees that Adam and Cassie are bonded the way that he and Amelia were and because he and Amelia weren’t together, you know, bad thing happen when you mess with fate. So he looks at Adam and Cassie and he feels that they are fated to be together.

But the other great thing is we don’t know what Ethan knows about the past and we don’t know what happened. So Ethan could be speaking a lot more truly than we think.

Yeah. Alcohol does things to people…
AH: [Laughs] The alcohol could be making it better or worse. So I think that’s what’s the great thing about what we’re seeing with series is nothing is as it appears to be and no one is as they appear to be.

Obviously the older generation of witches had a hand in Nick’s death. Is Ethan going to be suspicious about it? Or is he too much in a drunken haze to put the pieces together?
AH: I think that’s a great point. I think that into [episode] 106 we’re still seeing Ethan, and I just don’t think he wants to deal with anything. He’s just drinking it all away. I mean, even with the confrontation with Charles, obviously Charles had power and then Ethan tried to go to someone about that. So I think what we see even more exciting in episode 107 is that someone shows up from Ethan’s past, threatening to give Cassie some secrets about what happened, that Ethan doesn’t want done. And Ethan makes a decision at the end of episode seven that I think is pretty exciting. He make a decision as to…whether he’s just going to continue to sitting on the sidelines or actually make a decision and start getting involved on his own.

If he decides to be proactive and start acting and helping the kids, will he consider sobering up, perhaps?
AH: [Laughs] I think whether, regardless of what happened in the past, Ethan’s got the best intentions but at the same time, he’s kind of a tortured soul so I think whatever happens with Ethan, it’s not going to come easy.

How much have the writers told you about Ethan’s past? Do you know bits and pieces so you can play him appropriately or are you kind of finding out as the scripts come in?
AH: I think it’s both. I think there’s certain things they’re really smart in keeping secret, the writers. And I think with Ethan because he’s kind of numbing himself, there’s certain things I’ve been told privately so that I have an idea of certain details of what’s happened and other things I purposely don’t want to know because I just love it evolving as it comes.

That’s fair. I enjoy the kids and their circle, but right now I’m really interested in the adults and all their secrets. Will we be seeing more of you past that?
AH: We definitely, Ethan’s definitely got a big presence in the next two episodes. And then with the new character being introduced,  we start learning about that, too, but Ethan’s presence is definitely there and after 106 and 107, we’re going to be seeing him again for sure.

How is his relationship with Adam, given everything that’s going down? Are they having male bonding time?
AH: Well, when you’ve got a son that knows he is a witch and a father who’s a drunk, the idea of male bonding takes on its own interesting definition. [Laughs] But one of the exciting things in 107 is that Adam’s trying to deal with a father who’s a drunk and saying things that he shouldn’t and now he’s told something to Diana that upsets his relationship with her, so 107, I mean, Ethan and Adam have a conversation about just what Ethan’s been doing and it causes their relationship to take a big turn.

Right, we saw in the last episode that there was a threat to burn down the bar, but Ethan was drunk and passed out there. So it’s impacting the circle.
AH: Yeah, I think that’s a great thing to bring up. What you see happen not in this weeks episode but the next one is that Adam has to face this stuff with his dad and Ethan has to make a choice. You know, his wanting everything to just go away from the past, it’s just he can’t do any more, somebody comes back from his past, you know, Adam’s relationship with Diana, the new character showing up and how it’s impacting Adam and Cassie. It’s pretty exciting at the end of 107, the decision that he’s making.

Do you know when you’ll be back after that episode?
AH: You know, the great thing with Ethan is the writers…are great in that they know Ethan’s going to have a presence. As to when he shows up and to when he doesn’t, it depends on how things go week-to-week and how they’re structuring it but I think that the fact that they’ve got, they know for sure they’ve got the back nine now, it gives them a great opportunity to really plan how to develop these stories and how they intertwine the adults with the kids.

Is there anything you want to see happen?
AH: Well, I would love to see, I would love to see Ethan into the battle. And I of course look forward to Ethan and Charles going head to head because, you know, even in the pilot, I think Ethan refers to Charles as “Charlie” so you know that they’ve known each other for a long time and there’s just so much history there and so much has happened. I would just love to see what happens when Ethan and Charles go head to head, if Ethan is standing on solid legs again.

Especially when he finds out what he did to Amelia. I feel like that would just push Ethan over the edge and be like, “No, seriously, you need to die now.”
AH: [Laughs] Well, as I said, I think…the fact that Ethan was such a drunk, I think there’s a lot that he’s not wanting to deal with and I think it’s going to be really exciting to see if and when that he starts to deal with stuff what it’s going to look like.

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Are you excited we’re getting more Ethan?! (The only correct answer is yes, by the way.)

Related:

THE SECRET CIRCLE: Andrew Miller Talks About Fan Reaction to the Big Death
THE SECRET CIRCLE: Britt Robertson, Thomas Dekker, Phoebe Tonkin and Shelley Hennig Tease What’s to Come
THE SECRET CIRCLE: Britt Robertson, Thomas Dekker, Phoebe Tonkin and Shelley Hennig Preview ‘Heather’

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