Lifetime’s prepared to launch their second scripted dramatic series of the year on Sunday, October 6, 2013 with the premiere of Witches of East End, inspired by Melissa de la Cruz’ bestselling novel. The series focuses on one family of witches, the Beauchamps, and stars Julia Ormond, Rachel Boston, Jenna Dewan Tatum, and Madchen Amick. Ormond plays Joanna, mother to Freya (Dewan Tatum) and Ingrid (Boston), and sister to Wendy (Amick).
Witches of East End is not the first series about witches, but executive producer Maggie Friedman says that what will set this show apart from others is the tone and the fact it’s centered on one specific family.
“It’s about mothers and daughters. It’s about sisters. It’s about a multi-generational family and how it’s four very distinct women and how they each deal with their powers and gifts. I don’t think we’ve seen a show like that,” explained Friedman at the 2013 Television Critics Association event in Beverly Hills. “Julia’s character is a mom who has to learn how to let go of her daughters and let them make mistakes and put them in harm’s way, but that’s part of the learning process. And I think it’s kind of a metaphor for motherhood that every mother has to go through, is letting your child out into the world to experience things even if you want to keep them safe and hold them close.”
And speaking of motherhood, new mom Jenna Dewan Tatum was among the actors who took part in the TCA Witches of East End panel, talking about her character, being a mom, and the possibility of an appearance in the series by another Tatum.
Jenna Dewan Tatum Witches of East End Interview
How is being a new mother informing what you’re doing on the show? Have you found that being a mom now is helping you in getting into this role?
Jenna Dewan Tatum: “Yes. It was one of those things that happened without me even realizing it, kind of organically. […]We just started filming and doing a couple of the scenes, realizing that, you know, I’m saying these certain lines and it added so much more depth to what I was saying given that now I have this little soul, this life that I’m taking care of.
We’re dealing with so many family issues and we’re dealing with loss and finding out truths and just all this stuff that, having done that before having my daughter it probably would have come out a little bit differently. And then now seeing it having had this sort of transformation of my own life, really without even thinking about it, really, to transform the way I said it, the way I delivered it. So, I’m excited about that.
I think that that’s something that I was really looking forward to about becoming a mom. I think it’s going to just in life and in your art, art is life and in your work kind of deepens everything a little bit, and especially on this show because this show is all about the family dynamics between a mother and her daughters – and here I am with a daughter. You know, it’s one of those ‘Art is life.’ Art imitates life.”
Is there any thought of a very special episode with somebody else named Tatum?
Jenna Dewan Tatum: [Laughing] “Which one? My daughter or my husband? Everly will not be in the show. She’s too young. I don’t know. Maybe we’ll sweet-talk a certain little husband, and maybe he’ll come on and do it. Maybe he’ll be a bad guy. That would be fun.”
How does immortality work on this show? Do the characters stay a certain age?
Jenna Dewan Tatum: “It gives us a lot of places to go with the story, with the layers of our characters because it can play on past lives. We can play on what’s happening now, and is it all happening at the same time? Just a lot of really fun themes and stories that we can do.”
What powers does your character have? What power would you like to have in real life?
Jenna Dewan Tatum: “In real life, I can tell you what I want my power to be right now. Being a new mom, I would like to be able to sleep like this. I’d like to snap my fingers and be asleep because I’m a little sleep-deprived at the moment. But I guess on the show, I would say I’m ruled…I’m a very emotional character.
Freya is very ruled by her emotions, and so my power sort of comes from my emotions and how I’m feeling and how the situation is making me feel, which therefore transforms the energy of a room or something like that. I think that’s a little bit I can tease.”
Another project about sister witches was Practical Magic. How do you think the sisters in that movie stack up against what the two sets of sisters are doing on this show?
Jenna Dewan Tatum: “[…]It’s like my favorite movie ever. When I read the script, that’s exactly what the script reminded me of was Practical Magic as a TV show, especially with the sisters and the mom and the family dynamic. And I think there’s a lot of similarities. I think especially in the tone as well there’s a very tonal similarity, I think, to Practical Magic. It was one of the things that really excited me about the project because I think that’s a really great movie, and it’s a really great tone as far as witches and family and that dynamic goes.”
The magic was very grounded in that film.
Jenna Dewan Tatum: “Yeah, that was the thing. I mean, in our meeting, my very first meeting, I was like, ‘Is the magic going to be grounded? Or is it going to be larger than life?’ and all that stuff. It is very grounded and in a very exciting but believable way, which excited me the most because I wanted to do something like that.”
Can you describe the challenges of going back to work as a new mom six weeks after having your baby? And how much is your husband able to be around and help out?
Jenna Dewan Tatum: “Yeah. It is hard. It’s hard. It definitely is a challenge. It’s a whole other job on its own. I’m finding I’m getting more in the flow of things now, but, you know, it’s about switching the brain from, ‘Okay, now I’m mom. Now I’ve got to go to set and be an actress,’ jumping into Freya and then coming back and breastfeeding.
You know, it’s a juggle but I sort of feel like every new mom who goes back to work feels, and I feel really grateful that I have these amazing women and an incredible network and studio behind us that’s so supportive. They’re working the schedule around with me. I’m having just tons of help, so I’m managing. I’m managing, and actually it’s been quite nice to go and be creative and be able to sort of, I don’t know, ignite that part of myself. I believe it’s going to make me a better mom at the end of the day.
And Channing has been amazing. He comes and visits me. He’s working at the same time right now. But we prepared for that, and so we have a rule: we have a two, three week rule and we don’t break it. So it’s a little crazy. It’s a little crazy in my house, but it’s good.”
