NEVER SAY DIE
Star hopeful there is a TV future for Wynonna Earp
Much like the character she plays, Melanie Scrofano is not one to bow to authority.
On the phone from her home in Toronto, the actress is told that Emily Andras — Wynonna Earp's creator, showrunner and, ostensibly, Scrofano's boss — described season 4 as a little more like the FX modern western series Justified and “a little less (like) Doctor Who,” particularly in its final six episodes.
“I have no idea what that means,” Scrofano says flatly before breaking into a laugh.
Well, does it mean, as Andras also suggests, that the final six will be “dialed down” when it comes to the sci-fi and supernatural craziness?
“What? That's incorrect,” Scrofano says.
Wynonna Earp made her long-awaited return to the airwaves this summer after a lengthy hiatus, beginning season 4 with a suitably harried episode that threw Wynonna and the gang into a cheerfully deranged hellscape involving alternate dimensions, zombie scientists and at least one decapitation. It nicely set the stage for the first half of the season. There was a family of new, revenge-minded villains to contend with. A character died and was reborn and vomited frogs. At one point, demonic nuns were wandering around.
So, relatively speaking, the back half of season 4 may seem tamer by default. Scrofano acknowledges that these final six episodes do feel like a return to some of the strengths of early Wynonna, particularly in its more grounded themes of family and the relationship between our heroine and her sister Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley).
“I think the reason it felt a lot like a return to season 1 was because there was a lot of focus on the sisters,” Scrofano says. “Which is so fun. I have so much fun with Dom. We were laughing. It felt like we were kids again. It was just magical.”
Still, it wasn't all fun. The first half of season 4 wrapped in early March 2020, a week before the entire industry was shut down due to the COVID -19 pandemic. It was also among the first series to return to production in the summer, which also made it among the first to navigate the strict protocols set up by the industry.
“Going back was less fun for that reason,” she says. “A lot of our set was just smiling faces. Now, you take that element away and you walk by people and it was right at the beginning when we started wearing masks. We still weren't used to the fact that you could be smiling at someone and they would have no idea. You think `Do they know I was smiling at them?' and `Were they smiling back?'”
But the cast and crew soldiered on, just as they always have. Few shows have encountered as many bumps in the road as Wynonna Earp, which centres on the great-great-granddaughter of Wyatt Earp battling demons and other supernatural foes as part of a mysterious family curse. It survived middling ratings in its first season and managed to squeak out approval for a second. But three months before it was to begin shooting, Scrofano told Andras she was pregnant. This forced writers and producers to come up with a new vision for the season in short order. Somewhat miraculously, the actress's pregnancy was both worked into the plot and somehow kept secret from the public for the entire shoot.
But not long before season 4 was set to begin production in 2019, it was derailed by funding problems and went into an indefinite hiatus. After an aggressive campaign from fans to save the show — including billboards in Times Square — Wynonna Earp finally resumed production in early 2020, only to be shut down again a few months later by COVID-19. The latest chapter of behind-the-scenes drama took place just weeks ago when the American Syfy Network announced it would not be airing Wynonna Earp past season 4 in the U.S. This led to several American press outlets reporting that the series had been cancelled. It hasn't, although, to meet funding requirements, producers will need to find a new U.S. network for it to continue to a fifth season. If there has been a bit of a silver lining to being on a show with so many unplanned hiatuses, it's that Scrofano says she hasn't become complacent with the character despite playing her for years. While there have been a number of factors in Wynonna's cult success and acclaim — warped and imaginative storylines, the fantastic ensemble cast, dedication to LGBTQ representation — part of its considerable charm has always been Scrofano's performance as the flawed, funny and tough heroine.
The Ottawa-born actress beat out hundreds of actresses to land the lead. Andras says her irreverent audition tape stood out from the others, with the defiantly gum-chewing Scrofano immediately embodying Wynonna's stubbornness, vulnerability and general “spirit of sexy craziness.” Nevertheless, when the production resumed in January 2020 after that lengthy hiatus, the actress was ready for a new challenge.
She wanted to try her hand at directing and took the helm for episode 3. She admits her first day as a director wasn't exactly smooth sailing.
“I was working for the first time with a brand new character to the show, Rachel Valdez (Martina Oritz-Luis),” she says. “I was not only directing a character that was new to the show and new to acting but also myself for the first time. That was a little bit more stressful. Once I got that one out of the way and saw that the world didn't end and I was able to do it and I figured out I didn't need playback and that I could trust myself and the people I've been doing this dance with for the past four years, it was a lot better.”
Speaking of the end of the world, Scrofano says she shares the producer's optimism that a new home will be found for Wynonna and she will live on for a fifth season. As the mother of two young boys, she admits she would probably be fretting more about this latest bit of drama if she wasn't so preoccupied.
“Because there is a global pandemic vying for my attention, it's just been a really challenging time,” she says. “I think had that not been going on and I hadn't been trying to navigate the pandemic with kids and schools shutting down and all these distractions, it would have been a lot more stressful. But, right now, it's a wait-and-see. Until the producers call me and tell me it's not happening, then there is always hope because that has defined our show.”
Until the producers call me and tell me it's not happening, then there is always hope because that has defined our show.