by Yael Tygiel
The Earper-verse continues to expand! Stars Melanie Scrofano (“Wynonna Earp”), Tim Rozon (“Doc Holliday”) and Katherine Barrell (“Nicole Haught”), as well as writer Emily Andras (creator, producer, writer of the television series Wynonna Earp), appeared at New York Comic-Con 2024 to promote their newest adventure, six original episodes of Audible’s Wynonna Earp: Tales from Purgatory.
The series dives deeper into the gritty supernatural world of Purgatory, further exploring never before encountered threats, revisiting the old west as well as other unexpected locations (prepare for take-off), and even an episode that reveals what happened during a time jump from the original SYFY series. As the new series launches on Audible, the cast revealed the highs and lows of acting off-camera, the realities of such a tight-knit cast and crew, and why this franchise continues to thrive.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: What made you want to come back to Wynonna Earp, and why on Audible?
Emily Andras: I was really lucky. Audible came to us, I think, and we’ve been off the air for three years, but Earp is a show you just cannot kill with fire – so it’s both the most cursed and blessed show – which is what a wonderful thing. Here’s my theory about it: I think post COVID, more than ever, we see fragmented audiences, right? … And the truth is, we have the benefit of this loud, passionate, extremely good looking audience, fandom, the Earpers. And I think being able to deliver that to an audible or a Tubi on a silver platter is more unusual than ever, right? A baked in audience that’s going to show up no matter what. I think that you know, Audible really saw kind of the value in this community that wanted more stories, and we were pretty intrigued about telling them in this format, although intimidated too at first, for sure.
Q: Emily, as the writer, what’s the biggest challenge adapting Wynonna Earp from TV to Audio?
Andras: It was really intimidating. I will be honest as the writer. But I think when you are a writer, you should always be a little bit terrified to be honest, or you don’t care enough. That’s my secret. Look, the secret is, TV is literally “show, don’t tell”, and the audio stories are literally “tell, don’t show”, right? First of all, we didn’t have the crutch of this beautiful cast, which was a major problem. Second of all, I wasn’t really sure how to denote action in a way that wasn’t just someone being like, Oh, they’re stomping around with the werewolf, whatever. But when I kind of realized how freeing this medium was going to be, it became a whole other ball game. I’m also not tired. I’m fine. What I mean by that is no budget constraints, right? Like we really got to tell stories in the audio medium that we would never be able to do on the show, like on a plane, on a train in the old west, someone may or may not become a Godzilla like giant – you’ll have to stay tuned to find out. So that became really freeing, and also a chance to kind of reward the fans with stories, maybe that we didn’t get a chance to pick up on in the series, or take a C character and give them an A story, just do things. It almost felt like fan fiction in the best possible way.
Q: Why does Wynonna Earp work so well across mediums – it’s a comic book, a tv series, a Tubi special, and now on Audible?
Melanie Scrofano: I just think we have such a magic seed. I think we have such a great combination of writers now, including Tim Rozon, who co-wrote one of the episodes with Brendon Yorke. But we have all these people who love each other, and we all love the story, and the story seems to love us. And so I think when you have that magic, it kind of transcends, like you can play with it anywhere, and especially with a limitless imagination, which is Emily Andras, it seems like she never she says she’s out of ideas, and she’s not.
Andras: I would be remiss if I didn’t say because this cast is extraordinary. I honestly think they’re lightning in a bottle, one of a kind. They love the project so much too. They’re so committed to the crazy that their performances are still so emotional and real. And I think the fact that we all kind of like each other means that we’re happy to have an opportunity to get together and play, no matter what the medium. And I think there’s something subconscious about that love for one another that the fans can feel like. I think it’s a very mutual kind of beneficial relationship too. We’re very close with the fandom, so it feels like something that we all own. And that’s pretty incredible, as a creator, when it stops being just yours and kind of belongs to other people. So we’re very blessed.
Q: How does it feel to come back to the franchise?
Scrofano: It was really a great surprise to get the audible […] opportunity. The opportunity was, was so great after not being urban with them for a while, and we all it wasn’t just that we got to do this, it’s that we got to do it together the same room. And so it just really felt like coming home.
Tim Rozon: I get to be Doc Holiday again. It’s my favorite thing in the world. We actually found out about Audible before finding out about Vengeance [on Tubi]. So the level excitement of knowing, “okay, we’re gonna we’re going back to something we love”, what a gift, you know, what an absolute gift. I was just so gracious that I get to play this character yet. But between us, I always knew we weren’t done anyway, and I also know we’re not done yet. I know this. As a fact. Whether or not it’s a fact or not, I know it and it’s gonna happen, and it keeps happening. So just keep listening to me, because I seem to be right.
Q: Emily, how did it feel allowing Tim to fan-fic out loud?
Andras: I bullied him, trust me. […] So Tim Rozon is the Earpiest Earp who ever Earped. Nobody is a bigger fan of the show and of Doc Holliday. Tim is one of the most humble guys I know, but I remember, I’ve worked with him since I was 18, and I didn’t want to audition him for Doc Holliday, just because I knew him really well and I was not sure it was a match. And for the first time ever, Tim, who again, is very humble, said to me, I really think I could do this. Let me audition. Amazing. Nailed it. Iconic. Great mustache. But Tim also, in first year, first season, handed me a script he wrote of Wynonna Earp, which, as a writer, I’m like, This is crazy. Why would you ever write if you didn’t have to? So I knew he had an interest in it, and it’s just so funny about his character, and had so many ideas about Doc’s relationship with Wyatt Earp and Calamity Jane. So when it came time for the idea of doing kind of a backstory episode of Doc, and knew he was the perfect person to do it. Audible felt like a safe space. We could fix it if we needed to, but we didn’t have to. He wrote beautifully. He did such a good job. Yeah, it’s our first episode.
Q: Tim, tell me about writing an episode for the Audible.
Rozon: Yeah, so that was the level of stress I don’t think I’ve recovered from. Now, it’s all out, and everybody’s happy, so I’m happy, but, you know, I was writing literally, with Emily’s husband together, so I had a great safety net of Emily and Bongo [Brendon Yorke]. And I was nervous. Obviously, I’m writing a thing. And then I was I loved our story. I got really excited as we went along. And I’m lucky that, you know, I got to write the comic books with Beau Smith, so I had a great mentor there for many years. So I was confident in my storytelling ability, my actual, you know, grammar ability, that was, I was a little more nervous about that, but the notes came back pretty great. Everything made sense, and it was just a really fun experience. And then I was just nervous to what Mel was gonna think of the episode more than anybody. I just wanted her opinion. And she was like, “it’s great. I fucking loved it.” And I was like, Okay, this is gonna be awesome. So that was it, it was pretty good.
Q: Katherine, how does it feel to bring the “Haught” to Audible?
Katherine Barrell: I mean, it’s great. We just got to play so much in this medium and try so many different things, and gotta go crazy. And it was nice to just get to hear all the voices again, but also be in the studio together. And I’ve been saying, it was kind of like theater, like it was such a live aspect of it, not having to worry about ‘where’s the camera, and like setting up for a next shot. And scenes took 20 minutes when they would usually take hours, it’s just such a fascinating medium to work at, and with the character that you know so well. So very cool.
Q: What’s it like playing these roles for audio versus performing on-camera?
Barrell: For me as an actor, I rely so much on my costume. It really does help me a lot get into characters. So I felt like recording this, I think it would have a harder time had I not just come off of shooting [Wynonna Earp: Vengeance]. So I’m very grateful it worked out like that.
Scrofano: I will say that just using my voice felt very different and challenging, because I couldn’t rely on, like, the facial expression. So then I remember they were like, “say it like, Winona would say it if she was, you know, I don’t know, really intimidating”, and I’m like, “That’s what I thought I did.” But like, when you have your gun that everything’s I can say anything, and it’s intimidating. So it was a real challenge to find her without the things that make visual, things that make her Wynonna.
Rozon: The whole process was awesome. I was filming something at the time. Things had to come together at the last minute for me and Melanie changed her schedule, and I just literally had to do everything in one day with Melanie Scrofano in a room. So it was amazing. Did it all in one day, and it was some of the funnest acting I’ve ever done. I don’t consider it different than acting, because Mel was there and we just, we were looking right at each other’s just doing our acting. I was like, “Oh, this feels like I could be on set”, because we’re just there. And then the only other thing would be, do it louder. You know, that was about it. Other than that, it felt totally natural and it was very fun to do.
Q: Do you prefer Voice Acting?
Barrell: I mean, there’s something so freeing about the voice experience, because you’re like, I don’t care what, you know, I’m in my sweatpants. I was, like, bouncing on my pregnancy ball at the time, like I was just so… it was just my voice, and I didn’t have to think about, like, what are my hands doing? Or this is awkward. This feels weird, you know? Why did I make that face? All those insecure things that come up, that it was like, literally just performance. I didn’t care what I looked like, and that was really great as an actor, yeah. And getting to be with everybody and doing the scene so quickly, you know?
Scrofano: I was like, Is this making me a better actor? Because I was like, Oh, the things that I rely on aren’t necessarily internal all the time, and that’s fine because it’s a visual medium, but when you’re in a new medium, you really have to reconsider how you approach a character. And I haven’t found that sweet spot yet, but I’m I still want to keep looking
Q: Did you record together?
Barrell: We were for the most part. I would say I was in the room with, like 80% of the people that I had my scenes with. I was physically with. I was with Martina. I was with, like a Varun for Jeremy. Who else was I was with us, with Robin Dunn, like we were with the Giants. I was with Greg as Nedley. There was a couple characters I never met. … We had an amazing actor who was doing basically all the parts of people who weren’t there to fill them in. But it wasn’t that.
Scrofano: Tim [Rozon] and I recorded together, and then I didn’t get to record with Dom [Dominique Provost-Chalkley] or Kat. So next time we would like to – it was just a schedule thing – but that was the goal, and it would have been amazing. We did, though, get other actors that I didn’t really know, so that was a fresh voice in the room, and they would read the other voice, Waverly voice, say, and so that was a fun experiment to see how Wynonna would react to this, this person that I’ve never met before. Spoiler: not well, she had sass.
Andras: I got to go. It was amazing. One thing audible did, which made all the difference, was they flew in everybody to make sure they were all in the same room at the same time. It made such a huge difference. Like, again, being able to look into your scene partners eyes versus being, you know, someone’s in Sydney, Australia, and someone’s in Berlin, it’s a little more hard. I think that took some of the curse off it. For the actors, they were quite intimidated, but being able to look the same way they would on the show, and see each other and play off each other, you can really hear the difference, I think, in the recording, that they’re together, and it feels very emotional and real. So that was wonderful. There’s just watching the professionalism. I know what I’m good at, but it’s definitely not my medium. Watching the director kind of like, just give room for people to kind of have fun. And improv, while also make sure you got it, just his sense of scale and what he could add to it with the sounds like, was incredible.
Q: What was your favorite story explored?
Barrell: I really enjoyed filling in the 18 months away with Rachel. Nicole, when Waverly was gone, I really enjoyed [that] Nicole was so dark, and I only ever saw her before, and her after, of that. But that was like six weeks into Waverly being gone, so it was really fresh and really early, and just like the relationship with Martina – with Rachel – I think that that particular audio filled that in for me a lot, yeah, whereas I had only imagined it, but it was really cool to see what a writer’s take would be on it, what Emily’s take would be on it…. And so often we see Nicole in such a good place, it was nice to go back and explore that dark place for her, again. Very interesting.
Q: What is the correct enjoyment order (viewing and listening)?
Andras: So there’s four seasons of the television show. The [Tubi] movie sort of ends up being 18 months, maybe two years, kind of like where we are after the TV show, and then the Audible stories are kind of the bridge between them, so they’re sort of right after season four, before the movie. So that’s kind of how we thought of it.
Scrofano: Oh, geez. Well, I’m as a purist. I would start with the series – I do think, because we found it like, you know, in a series, you really have to give the first season to, like, find what you’re doing – So I would start there […] I would do series, Audible, Tubi. And then more audible, hopefully.
Miss any news from Comic-Con? Check here for the rest of The Beat’s NYCC ’24 coverage
About WYNONNA EARP: TALES FROM PURGATORY:
Saddle up and join Wynonna Earp on an immersive new audio adventure in the gritty supernatural world of Purgatory. This Audible Original invites you deeper into the Weird West to follow Wynonna Earp (Melanie Scrofano), as she embarks on her craziest adventure yet: riding off into the sunset with her soulmate, Doc Holliday (Tim Rozon)—yes … that Doc Holliday. Brace yourself for more wise-cracking demon hunters, earth-shattering revelations and all the genre-blending action you’ve come to expect from the cult hit TV series. With Waverly (Dom Provost-Chalkley), Sheriff Nicole Haught (Katherine Barrell), Jeremy (Varun Saranga), Mercedes (Dani Kind) and more, these latest tales from Purgatory will navigate a happily-ever-after that’s much more complicated than they expected! Don’t miss out on this essential new installment for fans craving another dose of badass demon-fighting mayhem.
Listen to Wynonna Earp: Tales from Purgatory exclusively from Audible, premiering October 17.
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