We were a smallish but mighty and enthusiastic team of Earpers who gathered in the Centennial II-IV ballroom Saturday 2:30PM for the “Everyone Welcome: Wynonna Earp Cast” panel that welcomed Emily Andras (showrunner and executive producer for Wynonna Earp), Kat Barrell (Nicole Haught), Varun Saranga (Jeremy Chetri), Tim Rozon (Doc Holliday), and Melanie Scrofano (Wynonna Earp). There’s nothing quite like being in a room full of people who love the same thing you love and in the same way. Moderator Kevin Bachelder jumped right in with the questions, asking if there was anything they had learned about their characters from the fans.
Rozon was quick to reply that he learned Doc Holliday was left-handed. Apparently he’d been shooting Holliday’s guns with his right hand, predominantly, and since learning that, had played him as ambidextrous. Barrell said that it wasn’t about her character exactly, but she’d gotten a lot of tips about law enforcement from fans. Andras agreed, saying that there was no one who knows the show better than an Earper who has seen it twenty times. She also said that she’s heard a lot of fan theories over the ten years since it premiered that she wishes she’d used.
One question from the audience was about a lesson their characters had taught them, or in Andras’s case, what she had learned from writing the show, and Scrofano immediately quipped, “Two condoms.” Which is a completely Wynonna kind of answer. But Barrell had a particularly touching answer, which was very Nicole Haught, saying she’d learned, “You don’t have to be a supernatural bad-ass to be a hero.” Poignantly, Andras added she’d learned, “You’re the only one who can write your story.”
It’s obvious how much the cast cares about each other and enjoys spending time like this together at conventions. The answers to the questions from the audience were both funny and heartfelt, like when they were asked what other characters from Wynonna Earp they would want to play besides their own. Sarunga, without missing a beat, said, “Nicole Haught.” Rozon noted that he was “entering his Nedley phase of life,” so he would want to be him. Then Andras said, “But then you’ve gotta deal with all these horny dipsh—ts.”
Scrofano talked eloquently about a meaningful moment on set when she directed her first episode of the show. She was very aware of the power imbalance that being a director on a show you’re also working on as an actor suddenly creates. She wanted to be very careful about how she worked and collaborated with her fellow actors and friends, asking herself whether it would all go back to normal after it was over. Scrofano got a little emotional as she talked about the way her castmates trusted and supported her and let her have her new role. “So when I’m acting, I try to really be respectful of not correcting at all, you know? Because I don’t ever want anybody to be in a scene with me and go, is she directing me in her head right now? I’m not. I’m not getting paid for it, so I’m not doing it.”
As an adjacent meaningful moment, Rozon talked about how he’ll never forget the first convention he went to where he saw people in Earp cosplays, pointing to someone in the audience and saying, “And it was that outfit, right there. It’s Shorty’s Waverly. And I was just like, what is happening?” He went on to say how incredible a feeling that is and how happy it makes him. “Every time I see anybody in cosplay, you should know how big my heart builds with joy when you do it. It’s so awesome.”
Scrofano was quick to agree, adding the immense pride she gets from seeing someone cosplaying from her show or her character. “Something I did mattered enough to someone else that it inspired [that]. … it’s a really good one.”
Not only is the love for each other obvious, but the cast obviously loves its fans, too. Andras talked about how meaningful it was to her to have fans not only fight for the show and campaign to save it, but that it worked! Fans raised funds and rented billboards to rally and save the show for its fourth season. At some point during the panel, each guest thanked the fans for being who we are and expressed their gratitude. Scarfano made sure we all understood the level of trust she has in us, saying that she eats things we’ve made her! She told a story about the early days of the show and someone had made her a pie. “Another guest at the convention was like, you’re not going to eat that. I’m like, Hell yeah. … That’s the kind of goodwill that this fandom has.”
At various points the conversation would devolve into the guests talking between themselves, but I feel I can confidently say that none of us minded. We all wished we could have continued talking with them for longer. Personally, I wished I had another hour to talk with the cast, but they were kind enough to take a few minutes after the panel to talk with me a little bit more about coming back for the fourth season and the joy of it. Sarunga, Barell, and Rozon in particular talked about how hard it was to lose something so important to them and not really get to say goodbye to it or have any kind of resolution because when they wrapped season three, they were all expecting to return back to work for season four and got the rug pulled out from under them. So, coming back was such a joy, even though Scrofano and Andras said they each had a moment of going, “do I still know how to do this?” Wynonna Earp was already a show that brought me so much joy, but experiencing the cast all together has given me a new love and appreciation for the show. If you ever have an opportunity to do it, I can’t recommend it enough. You’ll fall a little bit in love with them, too.
