Wynonna Earp: Vengeance Puts The Wild In Wild West

Here us out: What if Wyatt Earp had a child? And what if that child began a lineage of demon-hunting gunslingers cursed to fight the reincarnated victims of Wyatt’s escapades? These are the questions Wynonna Earp asked audiences in 2016 when its first episode aired on SYFY. As wacky as the narrative sounds, fans flocked to the series, supporting it through four season and, now, a 90-minute special on Tubi.

Based on the Beau Smith comic book series of the same name, the series follows unlikely heroine Wynonna Earp — played by Canadian actress Melanie Scrofano — the great-great granddaughter of Wyatt Earp, as she is forced to return to the backwater town of Purgatory situated within the Canadian Rockies to break the curse placed upon the Earp name.

“She is the least-likely superheroine of all time. She’s a completely messed up juvenile delinquent. But here she is nevertheless,” says series creator and showrunner Emily Andras. “She’s a borderline alcoholic, a wild and crazy woman who also happens to be the best demon hunter you could ever have. And she has this dysfunctional posse of other unlikely heroes who help her out.”

That posse of unlikely heroes includes Wynonna’s sister Waverly (Dom Provost-Chalkely), local Sheriff’s Deputy Nicole Haught (Katherine Barrell), and Doc Holliday — yes, THE Doc Holliday (Tim Rozon).

The series took its final bow in 2021 after four seasons, but the massive fanbase, nicknamed “Earpers,” made it clear they wanted more. American streaming service Tubi acquired the rights to Wynonna Earp in order to give the eccentric cast of characters one more run. Wynonna Earp: Vengeance, a 90-minute special picking up right where the end of Season 4 left off, hit Tubi on September 13, 2024.

Melanie Scrofano, the series’ leading lady, brings the spitfire wit and butt-kicking moves typical of a Western hero. But, her triumph is her ability to pull at the heartstrings with her surprising vulnerability and desire to protect her loved ones. “Basically, my inside voice being brought out was how I approached her,” Scrofano told C&I. “And then, I added in the vulnerability that Emily introduced with the same ass-kicking that Beau [Smith] had originally. I was trying to honor both in a way that made sense to me.”

Another jaded butt-kicker with a surprising soft streak is Doc Holliday — or rather, a reincarnated iteration of Doc Holliday thrust back into the land of the living to help his best friend’s great-great-granddaughter fulfill her destiny. Tim Rozon, who plays the infamous gunslinger, imbues the hardened Holliday with wit, charisma, and sensitivity.

“I never wanted a role as much as I wanted John Henry [Holliday],” Rozon told C&I. “I grew up watching a lot of Doc Holliday stuff, from Willie Nelson’s Doc Holliday to Val Kilmer and Dennis Quaid. They were all huge parts of my childhood. I still to this day say, ‘I’m your huckleberry.’” Rozon’s preparation for the role was more facial hair-oriented than one might think. “John Henry had a pretty big mustache, and, as amazing as Val and Dennis were, they didn’t have the biggest mustache,” he said. “So, if I can’t be Val Kilmer, I’m going to at least bring John his big mustache.”

After a steamy and sometimes tumultuous will-they-won’t-they dynamic, Wynonna and Doc received a picture-perfect happy ending in the last episode of the series, riding off into the sunset together on the back of a Harley. So, where do audiences find the couple at the top of Wynonna Earp: Vengeance?

“In a casino. Where else,” Scrofano teased. “They’re doing what they do best, which is avoiding honesty and causing chaos.”

“I love that we ended on happily ever after,” Rozon added. “But it goes to show you that happily ever after … you run out of gas 20 minutes later. Life keeps happening.”

“And it’s the running out of gas that’s the most interesting part,” Scrofano concluded.

While Wynonna and Doc make quite an iconic couple, it’s the relationship between Wynonna’s younger sister Waverly and Sheriff Nicole Haught that has amassed a large queer fanbase. Waverly, a chipper Purgatory native and Earp lore expert, falls for the smooth-talking sheriff in Season 1. After overcoming a variety of supernatural and interpersonal trials, the couple got a picture-perfect wedding on the Earp Homestead to close out Season 4. The couple’s popularity has led to the cast being invited to several conventions over the years, including Earp Division Expo, an ongoing convention dedicated solely to Wynonna Earp.

“I always thought there was something really special about this show,” Dom Provost-Chalkley told C&I. “It felt like nothing I’d ever read before. I was hoping that it would resonate with people, but you can never expect something like this to happen.”

“I didn’t even know that something like this was possible,” Katherine Barrell added. “I didn’t know what a convention was. I had no idea that this was a thing — the fandoms, cosplay, fan art, fanfic, chatting with fans online. I couldn’t have imagined it if I had wanted to. I’m so excited for them to have new stories, new costumes to cosplay, new lore to dissect. I’m so excited for the fans to have more Earp.”

But, with great power comes great responsibility. With a massive adoring fanbase to impress, the pressure to perform is tremendous. “When you care so much about a character, there’s some pressure that inevitably comes on,” Provost-Chalkley shared. “I think if you’re not nervous, that’s a problem, because when you’re nervous, it means you really care,” Barrell added. “But, we can’t work to serve every desire of the fans, because there are conflicting things that people want. We have to just serve what Emily [Andras] created, because she does it so well and we trust her so much.”

1/2

Indeed, when it comes to feeling fan pressure, series showrunner Emily Andras is an expert in the field. “I would love to say that I’m strong enough to never be influenced by what the fans are going to think, but I definitely am aware of what the fandom loves and what they wouldn’t like,” Andras told C&I. “So, I wouldn’t ever take a specific note, but more like the vibes, the feeling. But I mean, that’s the dream — that a fandom is so passionate about the characters and the storytelling that they really believe it’s theirs and identify with it.”

Andras has been the series’ faithful showrunner since day one, adapting the Beau Smith comic series for the small screen. Her love for classic westerns seeps through the pages of each script.

“I grew up in Alberta, which is the Texas of Canada. So, I definitely grew up watching westerns with my dad,” Andras said. “What really drew me to [Wynonna Earp] was it was an opportunity to take the characters who are often left on the sidelines of westerns and make them the hero. I think it’s a genre people count out all the time, but there are so many different variations of the western. The idea of being somewhere lawless and trying to hold onto your humanity is a theme as old as time.”

Since the show’s rise in popularity, Andras has been embraced by fans as well, often attending conventions alongside the cast. She aims to support each cast member personally while providing the fans with character arcs that serve the story’s wild ride of a narrative.

“[In Wynonna Earp: Vengeance], we meet the characters where they are now, and we did that with the cast too,” Andras said. “It’s been three years since the end of Season 4. These characters are not 21 anymore, so I made a deal with the cast. I was like, ‘I just want you to show up as you are. I don’t care if you can fit in your leather pants. Everybody’s going to be so happy to see you.’”

Wynonna Earp: Vengeance does not try to shove its characters into leather pants that no longer fit. Instead, it follows a group of characters struggling with what it means to find themselves on the other side of happily ever after. “Vengeance is about what happens after the happily ever after, when you have to make those mature decisions,” Andras said. “What does marriage look like when you have ambition? What does a relationship look like when you’re addicted to passion but you stop running? How do you define yourself if your job goes away?”

Andras concluded her chat with C&I by setting the scene for the 90-minute special: “It’s been about 18 months since the end of Season 4. [Waverly and Nicole] are living their wifey life. Sheriff Nicole is sheriff-ing in a town that hasn’t seen as much demon activity since Wynonna left. And Wynonna and Doc are living their Bonnie and Clyde life. They’re out robbing casinos, kind of being addicted to the excitement. There is an inciting incident that forces everybody to come back home and fight a demon the likes of which they’ve never seen before. So, buckle up.”

Seasons 1 through 4 of Wynonna Earp are available on Netflix. The 90-minute special, Wynonna Earp: Vengeance, hit Tubi on Friday, September 13, and is available to stream now.

Watch C&I’s chat with Melanie Scrofano and Tim Rozon.

Watch C&I’s chat with Dom Provost-Chalkley and Katherine Barrell.

Watch C&I’s chat with series creator Emily Andras.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Courtesy of Tubi