‘Secret Circle’: ‘FNL’ alum Grey Damon on possibly sexing up Chance Harbor (and almost being Stefan Salvatore)

The Secret Circle returns tonight (The CW, 9 p.m. ET), and while Cassie (Britt Robertson) is busy trying to understand what coming from a “dark magic” bloodline actually means, Faye (Phoebe Tonkin) tries to cheer up Melissa (Jessica Parker Kennedy) by attempting to get their individual powers back. Enter the new recurring character Lee LaBeque, played by Friday Night Lights‘ Grey Damon, who Faye finds advertising his voodoo botanica online and asks for help.

When Damon read for the role, he went in with a gypsy in mind, but now he sees Lee having more of a rocker/biker vibe. “That’s what I like about him, he’s sort of a mixture of a lot of things and he’s not really definable if you’re trying to figure him out,” Damon says. Where will Lee’s chemistry with Faye lead? That’s equally up in the air. “I hope that we bring sexy back,” he jokes. (I’d opened our conversation by telling him he’d already done that with a touchy-feely spell Lee performs.) “I will say that I think there’s an attraction from one side and maybe the other,” he adds. “But even I don’t know.” How many episodes will Lee hang around for? “I don’t know. I guess all you can do is cross your finger and hope ‘a lot.’”

TV fans may recognize Damon as wide receiver Hastings Ruckle on Friday Night Lights, as the high school quarterback rivaling Jason Stackhouse’s old records on True Blood, or as the recipient of Chloe’s kiss of death on ABC Family’s now-deceased Nine Lives of Chloe King. But they could have known him as The Vampire Diaries‘ Stefan Salvatore. Damon read for the role multiple times before patient and supportive producers — including Kevin Williamson, who works on both TVD and TSC — cast Paul Wesley. “I think that was a far better decision business-wise,” Damon admits with a laugh. “I’m not sure I would have been able to handle it at that time. There was a lot about the industry that I didn’t understand and that character in particular. Stefan’s wise because he’s 100 years old, and when you play a vampire, I think it’s important to play that wise angle and Paul definitely has that wisdom and that young look, so he can play both. Now, I could possibly do it, but then, I wouldn’t have been ready. I learned so much from that experience, just auditioning for that, more so than any job.”

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