Syfy’s Wynonna Earp centers around the great, great granddaughter of Wyatt Earp (Melanie Scrofano) who fights demons with help from her sister, Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley), gunslinger Doc Holliday (Tim Rozon), and Agent Xavier Dolls (Shamier Anderson). Michael Eklund co-stars as one of the main bad guys in the supernatural action series set to premiere on April 1, 2016 at 10pm ET/PT. Grouped together for interviews at the 2016 WonderCon in downtown Los Angeles, Rozon, Eklund, and Provost-Chalkley offered insight into their characters, the show’s tone, and what viewers can look forward to when they tune into the series based on the IDW comic created by Beau Smith.
Eklund’s playing Bobo Del Rey who is the antagonist of the series. “But as you watch the show, there’s a lot of twists and turns. I was thinking about this the other day. Is there really a bad guy and a good guy in this show?” asked Eklund. “It’s all shades of grey. Everyone’s up to no good in some capacity. But as the token bad guy, I’m the bad guy in the show. Bobo Del Rey – I’m the leader of the revenant.”
Provost-Chalkley’s tackling the role of Wynonna’s younger sister, Waverly, who she describes as bubbly and wonderful. “I feel very fortunate to be playing her. I think Emily [Andras] writes these amazing female characters and I feel really fortunate to be able to take one on,” said Provost-Chalkley. “What’s really nice is that I’m her younger sister and I think that when you find Waverly in the show, she’s at a place in life where she’s been following the rules that she thinks…she’s fitting in the way that she thinks she should. And through the series she finds who she wants to be. There’s a huge journey that Waverly goes through.”
Rozon’s taking on the legendary Doc Holliday who’s one of the best known figures of the Wild West. “I tried to do due diligence and do my best interpretation,” said Rozon. “I hope people dig it. But like Michael said my character also lives in the grey area. There’s not really a good or bad, per se. I mean even Mel who’s our protagonist, she’s got her own demons and I mean not just the ones she’s got to kill to survive.”
Rozon’s loved Doc Holliday since he was a kid and was excited about being able to sink his teeth into the character. “I was a big fan of Tombstone, obviously, and Val Kilmer and the Dennis Quaid one, Wyatt Earp. I’d seen all of these interpretations already. I made sure not to go back and watch them because they were so good that I just didn’t want that. But I can’t explain how in a way it was almost easy for me from when I got the first script and I read it, I just knew he was in there. I just had to get him and he was there, and I couldn’t wait to send the tape. I said, ‘Someone’s going to be really good at this to get this part because I am going to be really good at this. So whoever gets it, they better bring it because I’m going to bring it for this.'”
Although Rozon has yet to actually make it to Tombstone, he did order a replica of Doc Holliday’s gun, the Colt Thunderer. “I made sure that I had it. I wanted to be comfortable with it. Props and production were amazing. That’s the gun that I ended up using was the Colt Thunderer. I just wanted to be as accurate as possible,” explained Rozon. “I mean the mustache that Val Kilmer had would have been nicer to go, but that wasn’t accurate. It was that big, bushy – it took me four months to grow it. It was a big mustache that he had.”
As for the tone of the show, Rozon says he’s a huge fan of the genre but finds Wynonna Earp‘s tone hard to pin down. “I’m a huge sci-fi fan and all I know is people are going to love it. I can’t explain the genre because it’s originally from the book and Beau Smith’s book is so amazing,” said Rozon. “I think it’s a lot like the comic book, which is kind of awesome. But it’s not a Western; I don’t want people to think it’s a Western because we keep hearing that. My character’s from the Old West, but other than that there’s not [much Western in it].”
It’s contemporary but there are some influences from Westerns. “It’s put into a modern way,” offered Provost-Chalkley. “Even like there’s references as if it’s going to be to a horse but it’s actually a really cool motorbike. It’s a modern twist.”
Rozon added, “It’s fun. The tone is fun. It’s sexy and it’s dark and demons’ heads are getting blown off, but at the same time it’s funny and then it’s tender. It’s got everything.”
Watch the full interview for more with Michael Eklund, Tim Rozon, and Dominique Provost-Chalkley:
