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.
