WayHaught: “We make out a lot. We didn’t realize how much we made out.”
In WYNONNA EARP season 2, Nicole Haught has had her own story, beyond being Waverly’s love interest. Kat Barrell was pleased with this “because as an actor, you do get worried about being pinned as the love interest and then [thinking], ‘I have nothing to do other than make out with you.’”
If you think the closeness only extends to Waverly and Nicole, think again. After Barrell’s line about having nothing to do other than make out, she quickly caught herself and told Provost-Chalkley, “not that that’s not amazing,” and Dominique jokingly grabbed Kat’s hand…only to not let go for most of the interview.
Much like the rest of the EARP family, the costars were nothing but supportive of one another. While Barrell was describing how fun it was to play drunk Nicole in a recent episode, Provost-Chalkley praised her performance as “so good.” The actresses continued to praise one another’s work during their roundtable interviews at Comic-Con. At one point, they had a delightful conversation about which musical character Dominique would like to play — Anna from FROZEN — and Kat said she’d “be great in that…You would be awesome. I could totally see that.”
(Interestingly enough, FROZEN came up at least twice in the SDCC press room. Via showrunner Emily Andras: “I was really struck and moved by the fact that the real romance in that movie is the sisters.”)
It won’t always be making out and fluffy bliss for WayHaught, though.
The characters have already had some tension in WYNONNA EARP’s second season, between Waverly’s possession and Nicole’s feeling of being left out — yet again — when the whole Black Badge fiasco went down. There doesn’t, however, seem to be anything to fear (unless, of course, you have an allergy to the occasional dose of angst).
“I think that that’s wonderful tension,” mused Barrell, “it’s great storytelling, and it’s an inevitable part of…I think it’s something that’s going to be a thing for their relationship.” After all, how do you balance working together in a very similar field, in the same office — but not necessarily always being included in the same battles — without having some arguments here and there? If you’re looking to portray a believable relationship, you don’t.
Regardless of which struggles the characters may have along the way, Dominique Provost-Chalkley is still incredibly grateful for the experience of being a part of WayHaught — and especially the outpouring of love from the fans in the LGBT+ community: “They really are the most incredible fans, and any time I speak to anyone in the LGBT community that thanks me, I thank them back because I feel like they’ve just been so open and welcoming. And that has made this whole experience just ten times better.”
Barrell also continues to appreciate the importance of bringing this kind of relationship to television. She told reporters at Comic-Con that she felt it was a way for her to give back. “I wanted to put something into the world, and it’s just…I felt like being a part of the WayHaught…I feel very lucky because it’s very fulfilling to feel like there’s been such a positive thing that’s been put out.”
The boys.
Female-driven superhero series or not, WYNONNA EARP has some well-loved male characters. Xavier Dolls and Doc Holliday have one of the most dynamic relationships on the series.
Are they friends? Enemies? Frenemies?
Shamier Anderson, who plays Dolls, explained the guys’ relationship as a little bit of all of the above — especially when it came to how they dealt with Wynonna’s pregnancy. “There’s the bromance. Then, there’s some enemy stuff; and then, there’s some territorial just…masculinity.” The two characters might even bicker back and forth about which one is actually with Wynonna. So, there’s just “a lot,” as Anderson described the layers of it all, “when you feel like they’re getting close, something happens. And it kind of makes them go right back to where they were from the beginning. You’ll see in the entire season that the relationship between Doc and Dolls fluctuates, given the circumstances that are happening. But I think to the core of it, they really do like each other.”
Whatever Dolls and Doc’s relationship turns out to be, though, we’ll definitely see more of it in the series’ second season. “The bromance is necessary,” said Anderson, “you’ll definitely see some more bromance this season, for sure.”
Look for Jeremy to join the team, too. The July 21 episode was just the beginning. “You’re going see Jeremy grow into the group, I think…and try and fit in. But he doesn’t fit in…but he’ll try,” teased Varun Saranga, who plays the character. The actor promised that seeing WYNONNA EARP’s male leads working together would be “only fun. It’s super comedic, super light.”
Speaking of fun, Dolls breathes fire now; and Earpers can look forward to “more lizard-dragon Dolls this season.”
What about Doc? Where’s his storyline headed? Tim Rozon was uncertain — but in the best way. “To even think to think that I know where Doc is going would be a mistake because that lady over there, Emily Andras, just takes us on a rollercoaster each episode…That’s why I love this show. It’s so fun in that way. It’s just a rollercoaster that doesn’t stop.”
Is there any hope for Wyndolls?
The outlook is, well, cloudy.
In the first place, there’s the whole issue of Wynonna’s likely pregnancy by another man (or revenant).“As you’ll watch, I think that’s something that’s extremely devastating — but bittersweet — for Dolls. And I think that’s a process within itself.” So, while “there’s going to be some beautiful moments between the two characters,” to the point where some of what Anderson and Scrofano did on set had people in tears, there’s still a long way to go.
Even Varun Saranga jumped in to comment on one of the recent Wyndolls moments: “It was heartbreaking when he kissed her; and it’s like, he knows he can’t be with her right now.”
The newcomers.
WYNONNA EARP added both Sarun Varanga’s Jeremy and Tamara Duarte’s Rosita as regulars this season. The actors teased a little bit about each of their characters at Comic-Con, but don’t expect any big reveals just yet.
When asked about Rosita’s role in all of this, the actors weren’t spilling. “I don’t want a spoiler alert. I know that a lot of the Rosita stuff is about to come, said Tim Rozon. Tamara Duarte added, “can’t say anything.” Rozon tried to at least give Earpers some kind of detail — “Rosita will stir the pot” — but Duarte interrupted him to warn that he was giving away “too much information” with even that tiny tidbit.
The next time Rozon had an idea for something to share with the press at Comic-Con, he tried to clear it with his costar first. But whatever he whispered in Duarte’s ear was, apparently, too big of a spoiler, as well. “No! You can’t say anything!” was Duarte’s response. Sorry, Earpers. You’ll just have to hop on Emily Andras’ rollercoaster and enjoy the ride if you want to know anything about Rosita.
Ok, how about a safe topic? What was it like for Duarte to join the cast of WYNONNA EARP? “I’m an Earper first and foremost. I downloaded it on iTunes right when it came out,” the actress told reporters at SDCC, “I knew the show pretty intimately. And I’m a big fan. I’m a big fan of Beau and all of his work. So, I was like, ‘yes, I’m on the show!’ Watching it — watching last season — was just incredible. And being in this season is like, ‘holy cow.’”
Sarun Varanga was able to be a little bit more open about his character. He described Jeremy as “a really innocent guy. He was kind of stuck in Black Badge for many years, working for them because of his heightened intelligence. I think he had very few friends and very few people he could call his own. And so, when Dolls invited him into the fold, it [became] a new experience for him.” Additionally, the actor joked about his character’s “affection for Doc,” but he couldn’t confirm or deny anything when it came to whether or not Jeremy’s background will be explained more as the current season unfolds.
Of course, the biggest WYNONNA EARP news out of Comic-Con came from the panel.
It’s starting to become tradition for the cast to attend San Diego Comic-Con, only to learn that the series will live on for another year. Keep watching WYNONNA EARP on Syfy, Fridays at 10/9c, so we can keep up the tradition at next year’s convention.