Archive

The cast and creator of “Wynonna Earp” on #WayHaught, Bury Your Gays and more

Every time someone asks me about Wynonna Earp, I come up with a new way to describe it. I’ve used things like, “If Jessica Jones somehow existed in both the Whedonverse and Canada,” or “If Buffy and Bo had a reluctant gunslinger baby,” etc. But really there’s no way to compare Wynonna Earp to anything else, because it’s so unique and special all on its own. Technically it’s a story about a descendant of legendary Wyatt Earp, cursed to send the Revenants of everyone her great-great-great grandfather shot down decades ago back to the hell dimension they came from. But it’s about so much more than that. It’s about family, it’s about love, it’s about self-discovery and whether you can control your own fate. And it’s about fierce women embracing their badassery in its various forms.

On a conference call we were part of earlier this week, Emily Andras said it best when she described how happy it makes her when people see the show and say, “It’s a really strong feminist show or it has really good representation or we’re trying to talk about themes that are kind of interesting even though it’s the demon cowgirl show.”

Okay so now go watch all 13 episodes before reading this spoiler-sprinkled interview. I’ll wait.

All caught up? Awesome, right? Okay, let’s get back to the call.

On this call, we asked Melanie Scrofano (who plays the eponymous character) if Wynonna getting to know Nicole Haught on her own terms would help when she inevitably finds out that she’s dating Waverly. And while she said she loves that what they do as actors is always open to interpretation, her view of it is this:

“I feel like Wynonna just-if you’re a good person, she’s in. And if you’re a shitty person, she’s not in,” Melanie said. “And Officer Haught clearly is not a shitty person….One of her goals in life is to make sure that her sister is okay, and whoever is going to do that and do right by her, I think Wynonna is cool with.”

Which I think is a beautiful interpretation, and I think is how we all hope all of our family members will react to us coming out.

Another interviewer on the call (who was filling in for a colleague and hadn’t seen the show, and therefore hadn’t seen Emily’s previous promises about the fate of the queer characters on her show) brought up the Bury Your Gays trope, and Emily spoke to it, reiterating what some of us already knew:

“I’m incredibly aware of the Bury Your Gays trope and was quite astonished at what happened in 2016 where we were basically losing lesbians left, right, and center,” Emily said. “Like to be completely honest, it was pretty crazy. I’m hoping it was just a terrible, terrible coincidence and if nothing else, I think that there’s one good thing that came out of the destruction so to speak is that the Bury Your Gays trope really became front and center in the media.

It became something that we were talking about as a group and that is a good way to start making change. One thing I’m really proud about and that I really want to emphasize is that our show was written in its entirety and shot before of this went down. We’ve been finished since January 2015, so what may or may not have happened on other shows had no bearing on our shows.”

She also said, of her experience on Lost Girl, that she was, “well-versed in representation of the LGBT community on screen and also how passionate and dedicated and lovely that community is as fan base and how, dare I say, desperate to see themselves represented on screen in a way that feels fully fleshed out. They want to see themselves as three-dimensional characters. They want to see them as different characters. Not every lesbian is the same. It’s the same way not every straight guy is the same. Although sometimes it feels like it. Whoa. As far as portrayal on screen.”

And, I don’t know, it’s just really nice to have a showrunner who finally gets it. One last quote on this and then I’ll move on, I promise. Emily finished off by saying, “I think if you’re recording a particular community that maybe has been through some trauma as far as representation, you have to be aware of what they’ve been through and make better choices.”

To solidify her place in my heart, when asked what other demon-slayer from another universe she might want to show up in Purgatory, Emily picked Buffy. But present-day Buffy, so she would be older. (And Melanie and Natalie Krill supported this idea, suggesting a training montage like the Wynonna/Dolls scene from earlier this season.)

Emily, Melanie, and Natalie all agreed that the scenes between the sisters are their favorite. Emily specifically talked about how it’s really the heart of everything.

“At the end of the day, honestly, the sisters are really what made my heart sing. I really like the scene between Will, Wynonna, and Waverly in the coffee shop where Waverly tells Wynonna that she loves Nicole so Wynonna gives Peacemaker to Willa. There’s something about all that understanding and that moment between the sisters that I think is lovely. And I really like even the scene at the end of episode two where the girls are sitting around the campfire and Doc is replacing their mailbox and it’s just a beautiful sister scene and you see them kind of busting each other’s butts but also comforting each other. It just felt so real to me and it’s the first time I realized that I had cast a brilliant person. Just to make it about me, no, how amazing Dominique and Melanie were. So really my favorite scenes are the sister scenes and there’s many of them because I feel like that is the true romance of the series. The true heart of the series so for me, that’s what really makes me happy at the end of the day.”

Emily put into words what I’ve been trying to explain to people but usually just end up flailing in their general direction so I’m going to say it again: The relationships between the Earp girls is really the true romance of this show. Especially when it comes to Wynonna, I feel like her developing relationship with Waverly and her attempts at figuring out what her relationship even is with Willa are way more interesting and exciting than any love interests she has had or could have had.

On a separate conference call, we also got a chance to chat with Katherine Barrell a little bit and hear some things she had to say about the relationship between Nicole Haught and Waverly Earp.

Katherine says working with Dominique Provost-Chaulkey was “amazing” and goes on to say, “She has become extremely a good friend of mine. The most important thing for us as actors was just to make this relationship between Waverly and Nicole feel as genuine and heartfelt as possible….The writers on the show did a really beautiful job of making this relationship kind of so beautifully juxtaposed to what Wynonna was going through with, you know, kind of not really knowing what she wanted, feeling really conflicted about her feelings towards either Doc or Dolls or men in general. And I think the beautiful thing about Waverly and Nicole is the relationship seems to kind of—beyond that opposite side of the scale. Just this really pure, young beautiful love and I thought as a whole for the show it balanced the two extremes and a way to explore these two different kinds of relationships really nicely.”

When asked about how Waverly having to keep the whole demon-hunting curse thing under wraps might affect her relationship with Nicole, Katherine compared it to anyone with a complicated family situation who might be a little hesitant to bring a significant other in on the secrets. And on how she thinks Nicole would react if she did ever get pulled into the fold, she says, “I think Nicole will want to be involved. I mean, she has been curious about what is going on the entire season, especially since the woman that she cares about so much is literally right in the middle of this. I would think Nicole would want to help as much as she possibly can.”

And boy howdy I can’t wait to see that unfold.

An interviewer also asked Katherine about the Bury Your Gays and filming the emotional and stressful scene from the finale where Nicole got shot and her fate hung in the balance for a few terrifying seconds.

Katherine said, “Now keep in mind that we shot this scene way back in February, before any of the other events happened on many of the other shows…so I think it’s really crazy that I literally have a line saying I’m wearing a bulletproof vest because that was written and shot before, you know, any of these other shows have those events. And it was crazy because when it started airing everyone kept tweeting me, are you wearing a bulletproof vest? I’m sure you’re wearing bullet—I was like, “What is everyone talking about?” And I had to go and do some research and really figure out what was really going on within the community. So I think it is completely a coincidence that that scene happened the way that it did.

A follow-up question to that was about what the feedback has been like for her, especially since her character comes in such a dark time for LGBT characters and those of us who love them.

This was her response: “I’d say I have got nothing but beautiful, amazing, positive feedback and has been so incredibly embraced by this community and I feel really proud to represent a character that’s bringing so many young people—well, I mean in so many people in general but especially young fans—a good role model and someone to look up to. Media affects our culture so much especially in North America, and I feel like media really is a place that kind of dictates our cultural attitude and I think we need to see ourselves on TV, everyone needs to feel represented.

“And we’re getting there,” she continued, “and things are getting better and better but it’s an uphill climb to start an equal kind of representation and I feel incredibly proud to be a part of that and to be a part of the show that is helping to create some positivity and a character that’s a very three-dimensional, fully fledged character who’s not just on the show to be, you know, the queer representation but she’s on a show because she’s an amazing character. She’s an amazing person. People want to watch her and the fact that she’s gay just acts like just a personality trait. It doesn’t have to be everything that she’s about, and I think for me that’s the most important thing in carrying Nicole.”

As for the scene at Bobo’s party in episode 12, where Waverly walks down the stairs and the look exchanged between her and Nicole was electric, Katherine said it wasn’t hard to prepare for that scene.

“I have so much love and admiration for that woman…I think watching her develop as a colleague and as a friend throughout the season, you know, coming over from England and coming onto this show,” she said. “Watching her develop throughout the season, and then I see her in episode 12 and she’s just developed and grown so much as an actor and I think we were getting to the end of filming at that point and I think just everything we had gone through together as actors and as colleagues and as friends in that scene I remember thinking about a lot of those things. So thinking that I was just really proud of her.”

I’m trying not to type to much between quotes because there’s so much good stuff here and I’m excited to get right to it but I’m also trying not to be like TA DA HERE’S ANOTHER ONE but also some of these quotes speak for themselves so…ta da! Here’s another one! This time, Katherine on the relationship between Waverly and Nicole (the caller tried to make a point about the Earp family and cops in general that I didn’t quite understand, but Katherine answered as such):

“I think the two of them really debated to make sure it was something that they both really wanted. I think Nicole is a really patient and understanding human being and I feel like she has a sense of what she’s getting into with the Earp family and with Waverly and by the end of the season she definitely knows. I mean I really don’t know. It will be interesting. But yes, I think Wynonna…likes Nicole and the two of them get along. but I definitely could see how maybe there’s potential for Nicole and Wynonna to butt heads. They both have the same interest and that is protecting Waverly and I could definitely see where the two of them might differ on what is the best way to protect the woman that they both care about…I think anybody entering into the Earp family unit is in for some challenges for sure, but also some pretty great adventures.”

When asked about her favorite scenes to film, she listed her scenes in the morgue with Wynonna, as well as the entire finale because she got to work with pretty much everybody, particularly during the party scenes were they were all together. For a proper date, she said she thought Nicole and Waverly would have a lot of fun at an amusement park together (fanfic writers, get on that), and for a theme song for the two of them, she picked “Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys.

We asked her if there was a scene that was essentially the most “Haught” moment – that is to say, she’s all confidence and swagger, and if there was a scene that she could point to and say that it was the root of who Nicole was. Her response:

“I have to say it’s the first one. The scene in the bar at Shorty’s…As an actor when I read that scene I was like, ‘That’s just awesome.’ It’s one of the best scenes I’ve ever had the pleasure of filming. I think it’s just because it’s the perfect mix of confidence and assertive and she goes for what she wants but she is not pushy. She’s not rude. She does it with kindness and she’s very genuine. And I think that’s the perfect encapsulation of who Nicole is and I can’t think of a better scene to introduce her character.”

What will do we do in the hiatus? Well the cast is already set to go to San Diego Comic-Con, but as for the rest of the cons throughout the year, Emily Andras said, “I certainly can’t speak for the rest of the cast but if you invite us and we aren’t in production and also there’s a root beer and a place to stay, sure. Yes, of course, I think we would consider it. We don’t have any formal plans yet that I know of, but one of the advantages of being so closely affiliated with IDW, with a graphic novel comic book company, is they are all over the con circuit and they know how to do it. So I’m like sign me up. I could have a year of just doing [cons] but that’s just me.”

So keep an eye out for our favorite gunslingers at cons coming up, and you can always find us in the #WynonnaEarp or #HaughtDamn tag while we wait anxiously for a renewal announcement!

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button