Tag Archives: Dominique Provost-Chalkley

Wynonna Earp: Showrunner Emily Andras sounds off on Season 3

Canadian Wynonna Earp fans have had to wait a few days longer than our friends in the U.S. That’s because Syfy offered up a special preview of “Blood Red and Going Down” this past Monday while those grumpy Guses at Space stuck to their guns (see what I did there?) and are waiting until Friday for us to see it.

Being a member of the media has its advantages. I’ve seen Season 3’s return “Blood Red and Going Down.” Simply put? It’s sublime. After a year away, sliding back into Purgatory alongside Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano), Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley), Doc (Tim Rozon), Dolls (Shamier Anderson), Nicole (Kat Barrell) and Jeremy (Varun Saranga) has been ever so sweet. And with new characters via Kate (Chantel Riley) and big bad Bulshar (Jean Marchand), this pile of episodes promises to be a thrill ride.

We spoke to Wynonna Earp showrunner Emily Andras while we were at the Banff World Media Festival and she had the following to say.

The support behind Wynonna Earp has been incredible, especially from folks like Josh at Syfy.
Emily Andras: Yes, I feel like we are so lucky that we have tapped into something that we just can’t buy, which is kind of fan-driven passion. So I’m so happy people are leaning in. Even the excitement around the trailer, like ‘We trended on Twitter.’ I just think everybody’s kind of having fun with it and being like ‘OK, anticipation, here we go.’

I am constantly fascinated by the passion of the fans and how they really latched on and it’s beloved. So that said, can you not kill anybody on the show now?
EA: I think I have to still make the show be dramatic, how about that? Because … it is still a supernatural show with huge stakes and it’s terrifying. Yes, it’s terrifying, especially when you don’t have Walking Dead numbers. We kind of have a cast of six, maybe eight if you’re doing some funky Canadian TV math. Yeah, it’s incredibly challenging but at the same time, it’s a show about life and death. The metaphor I always use, I drive it into the ground is ‘I’m gonna drive the bus. You can get on the bus, you can be drunk on the bus and probably should be. You can scream at the bus driver, you can get off the bus and flip the bird and say I’m not riding this stupid bus anymore but we can’t all grab the wheel of the bus or the bus is going over a cliff.’ I definitely feel it’s a fascinating time for creators insofar as with so much immediate feedback, does that help or hinder storytelling? I’m like, ‘If Nicole Haught wears the wrong sweater, I’m gonna hear about it. My family is going to have to go to witness protection.

I’m only partially kidding. I went to a panel in Austin and I wanted to be really careful about this. It was about modern fandom and there was a lot of bemoaning from people about ‘Well the fans just don’t understand behind the scenes why decisions were made.’ And so often it’s budget or a network executive or an actor wants to lead is another thing that happens, a ton of times. But at the same time, as the showrunner, I feel like the buck stops with me and that’s the covenant with the fans. I have asked them to be on social media helping me push this delicious content so when they’re unhappy it super sucks but … maybe you just gotta weather it a bit. So remind me I said that. If anything terrible happens this year.

It’s true because you walk that line as a showrunner, a head writer and you’ve got a room full of writers, you’re writing the show for yourselves.
EA: Exactly.

But you also have to walk that fine line with the fans because you want to keep them entertained, you want them in your corner. You don’t want to anger anyone but you also don’t want to make a show that’s just for the fans to keep them happy because then you’ve got a boring show.
EA: Lots of people would like domesticated Wayhaught sitting on the couch making cookies and I’ll try to give you that scene if I can but that is not a Syfy show and Syfy’s not going to want that show. And you’re not actually going to love that show. It’s going into a third season because this is it. In the first season, we made the whole thing. We were running around the woods in Calgary and being like ‘Is there even film in this camera?’ But it kind of felt like we were doing some crazy demon hunting skits in the woods and then it dropped and people liked it.

And then in the second season, people were just so happy to have more of it. But now in the third season, there’s no doubt. People have expectations, people have wants, people have put their hopes and dreams on characters and storylines. I have done this dance before with Lost Girl … with semi-Canadian success comes semi-Canadian responsibly. So I’m ready, but I think the only rule I tell my writers to keep us all grounded when we’re kind of flailing and nervous is the one rule is the story has to be consistent with character.

The characters have to act the way the characters would act. Even if terrible things happened or they make mistakes, or they die, or they break up, or what have you, as long as it feels like, ‘Yes, this character would do it,’ even if you hate their decision as you would hate it if your friend made a terrible decision, I hope to fans are at least like ‘I don’t love this but it still feels like my show.’ That’s the only thing I can try to do. It’s not to do with story for story’s sake but to have it come from who these beloved characters are.

This third season, is this where you’re chugging along like ‘Yeah, this is where I wanted to be’?
EA: Yes, great question. The third season is batshit insane. So we’ll see if people like it. But there’s such a confidence to the performances in particular. It’s so delightful. Everybody just hits the ground running, very few people are pregnant this season, some would say none.

I’m just so incredibly proud of this cast because you feel it in the confidence. And their confidence with the material, their confidence to deliver both wit and quips while fighting a demon and hopefully getting the emotion and ending in tears.

Every year from the writer perspective, you have to be like, ‘How are we gonna up the stakes, what crazy cliffhangers are we gonna have?’ But there is a confidence this year that just feels like if you love the show, I just think you’re going to be so happy from the first moment you see Wynonna to hopefully the last.

Wynonna Earp airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on Space.

Image courtesy of Bell Media.
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Photo gallery: Season 3 of Wynonna Earp

Yes, I know that Entertainment Weekly already posted these exclusive Wynonna Earp Season 3 gallery images the other day. But honestly, I can’t get enough of them. So when Space dropped these puppies—sans the EW watermark and therefore PERFECT for downloading as using as my new wallpaper—well, I just had to post them myself.

As Wynonna Earp fans already know, Season 3 returns to Space on Friday, July 20, at 9 p.m. ET. We already aware Megan Follows will portray Mama Earp, Jann Arden drops by for a recurring role, Zoie Palmer will play Jolene and Frankie Drake MysteriesChantel Riley checks in as Kate.

Like I said, this was just an excuse to post these gorgeous images again. Enjoy, and update your wallpaper while you’re at it.

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Wynonna Earp returns Friday, July 20, at 9 p.m.  ET on Space.

Images courtesy of Bell Media.

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Wynonna Earp sounds off: A conversation with Melanie Scrofano

Anyone who has access to social media—and fans of Wynonna Earp do—knows the Season 2 return episode previews have been fantastic. Count us in on the praise-heaping. Showrunner Emily Andras and her writing team have advanced the plot—Super-creepy new monsters! A laboratory! New characters!—while keeping our core of favourites intact.

And while Friday’s first episode—”Steel Bars and Stone Walls,” airing at 10 p.m. ET on Space—is full of snark, fights and The Peacemaker, there are quiet moments too. When we catch up with Wynonna, Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley), Haught (Katherine Barrell) and Doc (Tim Rozon), they’re plotting to save Dolls from the clutches of Agent Lucado (Kate Drummond). With the curse stronger than ever, Black Badge intrigue, gobs of goo still hanging around, and new evils to contend with, Season 2 is going to be jam-packed.

We spoke to Melanie Scrofano for some help sorting it all out.

I’m really loving the tone of Season 2 so far. Friday’s return, “Steel Bars and Stone Walls,” features plenty of slow-motion hair flipping and strutting.
Melanie Scrofano: Really?! Already? Oh, I do. I DO.

As an actress, forget about the lines written … is it hard to get the hair flip just right?
MS: No, because there is so much hair and none of it is mine. I’m just trying to, like, ‘Get off!’ I’m so used to doing that in real life. Sometimes I just do it, and other times in the script it will say, ‘Super, sexy, hair porn.’ Something like that, but better, because it’s Emily.

There is so much to address in Season 2. First is the goo that was absorbed into Waverly. Anything you can say about the goo at this point?
MS: The thing about goo is … [looks at network publicist] … it just goos up your life. You just never know how long it will be in your life.

I not going to spoil anything about Friday’s first episode, but we do get a little more background into Dolls and why Lucado [Kate Drummond] feels the way she does towards him. Can you comment?
MS: It’s safe to say Dolls has got a lot more complexity than any of us realize and it will also play to our strengths as a team. It definitely makes things harder and he has a lot to deal with on his own. Just like Wynonna kind of sucks at the beginning at her job, but the things that are a mess about her, like her instinct rather than being polished, is what gives the team its edge. I think we can say it’s the same with Dolls.

Where is Wynonna’s state of mind at the beginning of Season 2? Her attitude suggests she thinks she’s a pretty big deal.
MS: Given everything that happened at the end of Season 1 and the mountain she’s up against, she’s puffing out her chest and is going, ‘I don’t know if I can do this, but I have to.’ Part of the reason everything is so fast-paced is because she can’t slow down to think because she’ll have a meltdown if she thinks about what she’s done and what’s happened.


Wynonna doesn’t have time to choose. She’s like, ‘Boys are important and everything, but I have to save the world! So, sorry for your feelings, and I’m going to do my best but I’ve got a job to do.’


There’s a lot going on in the first episode back. The team is going after Dolls, so we’re introduced to a new setting in the lab and a couple of new characters and new monsters.
MS: Any monsters that we come across don’t just come and go. They are all tied together in some way.

There is also one heck of a fight between Wynonna and another character. How long does it take to choreograph and film a fight scene?
MS: They take all day, and you see them on the schedule and you want to go home. Usually, you don’t have a lot of time to prepare for them and they’re messy. It adds a nice energy to it because you’re phrenetic and you hope that you don’t actually connect and actually punch somebody. Those scenes are very intricate, there are so many pieces, and then you have to land your marks and sell the punches. The scene in Episode 1 probably took six to eight hours.

Who’s the stunt coordinator?
MS: Steve McMichael. He’s incredible. Don’t tell him this, but he could poison my oatmeal and we would have him back for Season 4 because he’s just so good!

One thing that was teased by Emily, and Tim Rozon told me for an upcoming podcast, is the dynamic of having characters in different pairs this season.
MS: Everybody is affected differently by the curse. Wynonna and Officer Haught didn’t work much together last season, so it was interesting to see how that relationship evolved and I found it really fun and touching. I really loved that one. It was interesting to see different perspectives on the curse.

I also get the sense there’s going to be more regarding the love/affection triangle between Wynonna, Dolls and Doc.
MS: Wynonna doesn’t have time to choose. She’s like, ‘Boys are important and everything, but I have to save the world! So, sorry for your feelings, and I’m going to do my best but I’ve got a job to do.’ I like that aspect of it. She doesn’t want to be harsh, but at the same time, the clock is ticking.

Wynonna Earp airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on Space.

Image courtesy of Space.

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Link: Wynonna Earp’s Dominique Provost-Chalkley on her very different Murdoch Mysteries role

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Link: Wynonna Earp’s Dominique Provost-Chalkley on her very different Murdoch Mysteries role
“We center around the Fire of Toronto in 1904 and open with a huge debutante ball. I’m one of the debutantes trying to win Mr. Rodney Strong’s hand in marriage. Of course it doesn’t run as smoothly as that and one of the debutantes is killed, so amongst all the drama Murdoch has to work out who is murdering them and why.” Continue reading.

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Photo gallery: First look at Season 10 of Murdoch Mysteries

The wait is over, Murdoch Mysteries fans! Season 10 is upon us, and we couldn’t be happier, especially after getting a peek at six images from the first episode!

As previously announced, Downton Abbey‘s Samantha Bond guest-stars in “Great Balls of Fire, Part 1,” but what we don’t know was that Wynonna Earp‘s Dominique Provost-Chalkley would be appearing as well. Here’s an episode description for Episode 1001:

In the wake of Ogden’s (Hélène Joy) near-death experience at the hands of a deranged former patient, Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) is trying to create some normalcy in their shared life by moving ahead with plans to build a house. Ogden appears to be recovered but her physical well-being hides trauma to her spirit and psyche. The doctor masks it well as the couple spends a night on the town at the Grand Hotel for an elegant debutante ball. Ogden’s friend, Lady Suzanne Atherly (Samantha Bond), has recently arrived from London and is using the event to introduce her daughter Elizabeth (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) to Toronto society and the very eligible bachelor Rodney Strong (Kyle Cameron). As Ogden entertains her guest, Murdoch is assailed by George Crabtree’s (Jonny Harris) commentary on the young women vying for the affections of the wealthy suitor.

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Season 10 of Murdoch Mysteries debuts Monday, Oct. 10, at 8 p.m. on CBC.

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