MovieChat Forums > The Secret Circle (2011) Discussion > Melissa was supposed to be gay!!

Melissa was supposed to be gay!!

posted 12 years ago by iMember
30 replies | jump to latest

Thanks to Carina McKenzie from Zap2It we now know that Andrew Miller and the writer's staff of The Secret Circle had originally penned Melissa as a gay female character with a crush on her best friend Faye while struggling to deal with her sexuality. HOWEVER, as development went on some higher power that be on the CW network preferred Melissa as a straight female character and so the writers of the show had to change it for her to be into bad boys instead.

Knowing this, I would have LOVED to see Andrew Miller's original concept with Melissa struggling with her sexuality and on top of that being a witch like they had planned. CW, why you like to mess up good ideas!? Ugh.

Excerpt from the article"

"In early drafts of "The Secret Circle," one of the main characters -- Melissa, played by Jessica Parker Kennedy -- was gay. The show was based on a series of books first published a decade ago, and because Melissa was one character who didn't exist in the source material, there was a license to update the story. Initially, Melissa had a crush on her best friend Faye and was struggling to come to terms with her sexuality. After the show was further developed at the studio and the network level, Melissa became a straight girl with a thing for bad boys. At some point, some powerful person decided that was the story worth telling."

Source: http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/06/on-tuesday-greys-anato my-creator.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[–] silcock-2 12 years ago

^ Saw that before. The show should have been brave and just gone for it. It should have taken more chances storyline wise to make it stand out against TVD in general. Also why is the CW, like allergic to LGBT characters or any other serious/politcaly hot storylines? The CW's idea of controversy seems to be threesome storylines.Tv to talk about, my ass.

[–] poem 12 years ago

That would have been much more original and interesting.

We already have the overused "duh, girl is into bad boys and then complains bad boys treat her bad" plot with Faye.

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A gentleman will not insult me, and no man not a gentleman can insult me.

[–] Ray Ban 12 years ago

Interesting discovery. Melissa definitely had more of a butch, tomboy type girl look in the pilot with her shorter locks and bomber jackets. If any character should have turned out to have been gay though, it should have been Adam. It seemed like a natural progression for the character and might explain the lack of chemistry between him and any of the female leads.

[–] neveragain20072010 11 years ago

how do you figure that? there was serious chemistry between him and cassie - it was almost electric, and it was blatantly obvious from the pilot. you could tell with the way they looked at each other, literally from their first scene - hell, he had more chemistry with cassie than with diana, his own (onscreen)girlfriend.
every time him and cassie were on screen, i was certain they were going to start making out.
step up or shut up!!!

[–] RemiRoyer33 12 years ago

Yeah, almost every teen show in the last 20 years has used the "girl is into bad boys and then complains bad boys treat her bad" story.

My view is that if a girl likes bad boys then she should at least have the decency to stop complaining about them treating her bad because she could have picked a different kind of guy and avoided that abuse.

[–] actionmanrandell 12 years ago

why not
the same thing happens in real life.
the hugely popular chick dates only the dumb jock who is a jackass and is bordering on abusive. same chick complains to her friends about how big of an *beep* he is etc etc
they are just being true to real life

[–] keeper_tere 12 years ago

I read this article as well. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if they actually made Melissa's character gay.

Knowing this, I would have LOVED to see Andrew Miller's original concept with Melissa struggling with her sexuality and on top of that being a witch like they had planned. CW, why you like to mess up good ideas!? Ugh.

Well the CW loves to mess with good ideas and make the creators/writers throw in ideas that they think the audience would respond to the best.

[–] MerchantDigger 12 years ago

Ah yeah.

The rip off PLL storyline they injected into Life Unexpected which I'm pretty sure alienated most of the viewers. :)

[–] lferrigon-1 12 years ago

I would have preferred to have known about Melissa's parents not her sexuality.

[–] PhoenixFireWalker 12 years ago

I Thnk MAYBE they should have left her as gay and crushing on Faye cos it would help explain why Melissa put up with Faye!

[–] forherwealth 12 years ago

I thought Faye should have been the gay one, crushing on Melissa

Buffy vs Edward: Twilight Remixed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZwM3GvaTRM

[–] tlhoagland 12 years ago

They probably changed it because then all the girls would be WAY too similar to the Pretty Little Liars cast:
Aria-Cassie (edgy, petite, main character)
Spencer-Diana (preppy smart one)
Hannah-Faye (outgoing pretty girl)
Emily-Melissa (quiet, only minority, lesbian)

[–] jean_honey 12 years ago

In the first few episodes I really was hoping that Melissa and Faye would become a couple. That would have been more interesting.
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“If Darrell [Hammond] is da Vinci, Will [Ferrell] is Monet, and I am me, in a wig.” -Tina Fey

[–] Shimmer_Me_Timbers 11 years ago

I felt like that's where they were heading and then they realized what the writer was doing and forced him to drop it. It would've definitly made the characters less boring.

[–] ElectricalSphere 11 years ago

I still didn't find Melissa and Faye boring at all. I loved their chemistry, even only as friends! I also liked how Diana and Faye were fighting over Melissa's friendship :).
Such a shame this show got cancelled. One of my favorite series in 2012.

[–] 11 years ago

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