Most people enjoy a good Western, but there are probably a good few of them who have thought,
"You know what this Western needs? Some supernatural demons!" Well Wynonna Earp has you
covered. From the source material to its dedicated fanbase, here's the untold truth of Wynonna Earp.
When showrunner Emily Andras read the Wynonna Earp comics for the first time,
she knew that she had to bring Wynonna to life onscreen. She told The Mary Sue -
"When I picked up the comic, I really got all tingly. I [was really] like, oh my god,
if I could just cook something up for myself in a magic cauldron, this is everything I would pick,"
She pitched her idea to comic book publisher IDW, who loved Andras' idea,
especially when she described it as, quote, "If Buffy meets Justified meets Frozen."
As a writer and consulting producer on the space
drama Killjoys and a showrunner on the supernatural drama Lost Girl,
Andras could easily translate Wynonna Earp from the page to the screen.
Wynonna Earp's story began back in 1996, when writer Beau Smith published the very
first comic featuring the character. But when Smith began working on the comics,
he received pushback from nearly everyone involved with the process.
He wanted Wynonna to come across as mature, confident, and powerful, but the publisher
and artist he was working with wanted him to take things in a different direction.
As Smith admitted in an interview with Uproxx -
"My battle 20 years ago with Wynonna Earp was a hard one. I battled with not only the publisher
but with the artist to not make her a stripper with a badge. That was the way everyone wanted
to portray her because that was the thing going on at the time. That was something I fought."
Andras definitely changed up Wynonna's image for the show and gave her some more modest costumes.
But the spirit of Smith's original character definitely comes through
in Melanie Scrofano's portrayal of Wynonna.
While Emily Andras lifted many of the characters in Wynonna Earp straight from the original comics,
she also brought some new faces to the series. For instance, Wynonna's sister,
Waverly, doesn't exist in the source material, and neither does her girlfriend and local sheriff,
Nicole Haught. Both became fan favorites, especially when they began dating.
Now, Beau Smith has incorporated both Waverly and Nicole into the comic series,
and he's interested in finding a place for more TV characters in his work, as he told Uproxx -
"It's always been a point for me to bring as many of the cast members
and even some of the one-episode characters into the comic as possible,"
He continued on about his goal to make the comics more seamless for fans who
only knew of the show, but he made sure not to leave out his original readers either, saying -
"For the core audience that has been around for 20 years, I want to give them something new."
In addition to certain characters from the TV series missing from the pages of
earlier comic issues, the narrative isn't quite the same. After all,
it kicks off with Wynonna's return to her tiny home of Purgatory. And while fighting
supernatural forces is certainly a major focus of the series, many of the episodes
also center around the relationships and interactions between the characters.
"Pfft! You're hardly qualified to give relationship advice.
Remember that guy with the satanic-face tattoo?"
"What? Phil really loved Norwegian death metal."
But in the comic book series, Wynonna sets off on an epic, action-packed road trip across America.
It wasn't until he'd already published several issues that Smith sent Wynonna to Tombstone,
Arizona, where Wyatt Earp famously fought in the shootout at the O.K. Corral. Of course,
the comics that have been published since the show began airing have clearly tied in with the series,
so today, fans would probably spot more similarities.
Melanie Scrofano has earned well-deserved praise for playing Wynonna, Tim Rozon is a
natural as Doc Holliday, and as Waverly, Dominique Provost-Chalkley really seems
like she could be Scrofano's little sister. So fans might be surprised to hear that at
least one actress on the show auditioned for several roles before finding the perfect fit!
Katherine Barrell knew that she wanted to be part of the series, but it took a couple
of auditions until she landed a role, as she explained in an interview with SciFi Vision -
"They did kind of a wide net casting call for Wynonna, and I auditioned for Wynonna,
and then like a month later, I auditioned for Waverly,
and then maybe a month and a half later, I auditioned for Nicole."
Now, Barrell is captivating as Purgatory's sheriff,
and her chemistry with Provost-Chalkley is undeniable.
Wynonna Earp fans will be happy to find out that several of the cast members have connected
outside of the show. Katherine Barrell and Tamara Duarte actually worked together on another film
that was released shortly before Wynonna Earp began airing: the 2015 rom-com My Ex-Ex,
which was about a woman trying to decide between getting back together with the
man who recently broke up with her or reuniting with her college boyfriend.
Additionally, Greg Bryk, who plays Jack of Knives, is the father of Billy Bryk, who plays Billy
Clanton. Greg began acting in 1998, and in 2018, Billy followed in his father's footsteps when he
landed his first professional acting job on the series Jett, alongside his brother Dempsey Bryk.
Wyatt Earp lived in the American West, but Wynonna Earp is actually set in
Canada. Wynonna's hometown, Purgatory, is located near the Canadian Rockies.
As Andras, who grew up in Canada, explained in an interview with Sci-Fi Bulletin -
"It was a chance to get back there and do a show that takes place not in the claustrophobia of a
spaceship or in an urban landscape. We could bring all these demons running around the mountains
and the plains and the Badlands. It felt really fresh to me, the idea of a supernatural Western."
The series is shot at various locations around Calgary, Alberta,
and the town of Didsbury stands in for Purgatory on the screen.
After watching a few episodes, eagle-eyed Wynonna Earp fans began noticing a curious pattern.
All of the episode titles seemed recognizable, and the phrases sounded especially familiar to
country music fans. For instance, in June 2017, an episode titled "Gonna Getcha Good"
aired, and a fan reached out to Andras on Twitter to ask if the title was a reference
to the popular Shania Twain tune "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" Andras responded -
"Yep! All #WynonnaEarp episodes are named after country and western songs!"
This choice is an homage to the Western roots of the story, and once you notice it,
looking up the episode titles becomes a fun trivia exercise. Some of the titles are easy
to place like the season one episode "I Walk the Line" while the episode "Whiskey Lullaby" gets
its title from the modern country hit of the same name by Alison Krauss and Brad Paisley.
When Wynonna's pregnancy was revealed at the end of season two, fans were shocked. Originally,
the writers hadn't planned for a pregnancy storyline, but when Scrofano found out that
she was pregnant in real life, she knew that she had to tell showrunner Emily Andras.
"We need a plan, and we need it fast cuz this
suckers coming out my vagina - Yeah my vagina Jeremy."
However, she didn't think that they would be able to incorporate her pregnancy into the series.
Instead, she assumed that she was going to get fired or that the show would be canceled,
as she told The TV Junkies -
"I just started projecting that they were going to
take the show away and be mad at me, and I got really angry,"
Thankfully, Scrofano couldn't have gotten a more positive
response from the team behind the show, saying -
"I told them, and they were so supportive. Emily right away
started having ideas and her brain went into, 'How can we use this for the story?'"
The season was even extended by two episodes specifically to focus on Wynonna's pregnancy.
Devoted Wynonna Earp fans were devastated when they found out
that the show was on the chopping block after they'd already been promised future seasons.
"...This one's quite a kick in the box."
"Yes ma'am."
IDW Publishing, the company that owns the rights to the Wynonna Earp comics and TV series, was on
the hook for hefty production costs, and they weren't sure if the expense would be justified.
So the fans decided to mobilize. They raised funds to put up #FightForWynonna billboards in New York
and Los Angeles to prove that future seasons would have a dedicated audience.
As Bonnie Ferrar, a copywriter who manages a highly popular Wynonna Earp fan account
on Twitter, told The Hollywood Reporter -
"We want networks to know that this fandom is loud
and mighty and passionate. We will support all of the networks and companies that
continue to produce Wynonna Earp [...] We are all in as a fandom and we are loyal."
The response from enthusiastic fans clearly had a positive influence,
and the fourth season began airing in July 2020. It was a huge victory, but sadly,
it was short-lived, as the show was once again canceled in February 2021.
When the show began airing, Wynonna Earp fans started connecting on social media,
and if you happen to scroll through Twitter when a new episode premieres,
you'll notice that this fandom is highly active and super welcoming.
Andras and the cast have praised the fandom for creating such an uplifting community around the
show and avoiding the negative behavior that often plagues these virtual groups.
But no matter how sweet her fans are, Melanie Scrofano makes it a point to stay away from
social media when she's shooting new episodes, explaining in an interview with Vulture -
"You have to balance what people would like to see and what is honest to the people who created it.
That's why I get off Twitter when we shoot because it's like, Wow, I am being very influenced."
Basically, Scrofano wants to make sure that her performance
isn't influenced by comments from fans on social media — even positive comments!
Beau Smith wants fans of the Wynonna Earp TV series to feel like they can see a whole new
side of their favorite show by reading the comics, but he also wants to give them some
of the familiar material that got them hooked on the show in the first place. And what better
way to do that than by inviting a few of the actors themselves to contribute to the comics?
Smith collaborated with Melanie Scrofano and Tim Rozon to put
together a special collected volume of the series, titled Wynonna Earp:
Legends. Scrofano and Rozon each worked with Smith on different issues, and both actors
found the experience to be very rewarding, with Scrofano telling Entertainment Weekly -
"As an actor, you tend to just look at the script till you get to your stuff.
But then when you're writing, it just really makes you go, 'What does this do for them?' It deepens
your appreciation for all the characters, which, in turn, just makes you appreciate
the whole of the story that you're telling more. It makes you less selfish, in theory."
The death of Deputy Marshal Dolls came as a major shock to fans. Dolls, who helped
protect Wynonna and her family, was a beloved character, and his feelings for Wynonna ran deep.
He was clearly in love with her, and he was willing to do almost anything to keep her safe.
But early in season three, Dolls gave his life to save Wynonna, and fans were devastated to see him
go. However, the writers didn't choose to kill him off simply to make room for new supporting
characters. Instead, Shamier Anderson, who played Dolls, had negotiated his exit well in advance
and had worked with the writers to figure out his death scene. While Anderson loved
working on Wynonna Earp, he was receiving offers for other exciting opportunities,
and he didn't want to pass them up. However, he wanted to make sure that his death on the
show was meaningful and left a memorable impact. As Emily Andras told TV Junkies -
"It was extremely important to Shamier personally
that he have Dolls go out as he lived, which is a hero."
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