Wynonna Earp’s Melanie Scrofano On How Mama Earp Brings Out Wynonna’s Biggest Fears

We’re just two episodes into Season 3 of Wynonna Earp and already so much has happened. The team has fought off vampires, we’ve met Mama Earp (Megan Follows) and sadly, even lost one of our own when Dolls (Shamier Anderson) died saving Nicole (Katherine Barrell). As the team prepares to mourn his death on this week’s episode, airing Friday at 9 p.m. ET on SYFY and Space, Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) will once again have to rise above a challenging situation in order to keep fighting because as Scrofano noted, “it’s all on her shoulders.”

To get some further insight into where Wynonna stands as Season 3 is starting off, The TV Junkies recently caught up with Scrofano. She talks to us about the complicated relationship Wynonna has with her mother and how keeping Mama’s whereabouts a secret may cause strife with Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley). Scrofano also discusses the dangerous weather and shooting conditions for last week’s episode that saw Wynonna trapped out on the side of the mountain.

The TV Junkies: While the Season 3 premiere was a lot of fun, the events that happened in last week’s episode signal a much more serious season. Did you guys feel that way about the season or what was it like coming back this year as opposed to others?

Melanie Scrofano: There’s definitely a lot going on right at the beginning of the season that is quite dark. We start in a heavy place because Wynonna gave away her baby but then it gets even heavier. I think we still found the light in it, but there’s huge moments happening and a huge loss. Then Mama comes into the picture and that has its own host of dynamics as well.

TTVJ: Wynonna spent a lot of that episode freezing out on a cliff. So you not only had this hugely emotional episode to play out, but also a ton of physical aspects to act out as well. What was that whole experience like for you and how challenging is it to get through something like that? It looked colder than usual.

MS: It was colder than usual, actually. There were people in full parkas and warmups dressed for the day and they were cold. I was then basically standing there in nothing, because that dress was basically nothing. I had been with them in prep and they were saying how cold it was. Ultimately, they asked if I wanted them to figure something out so I wasn’t in that dress, but I was like ‘No, I love that dress!’ There was something about being in those meetings and mentally preparing myself, knowing how cold it was going to be, that actually I was able to withstand it more than normal.

It was a bit scary though. We were on the edge of a cliff face, or whatever you call it, I’m not a mountaineer! [laughs] We were out on that little ledge so you couldn’t get up and down easily and so the warm up stuff was hard to get on me. Thankfully, I had this wicked blanket that Patricia [Livingstone, costume supervisor] had made me. Logistically it was pretty much a nightmare.

TTVJ: I think they saw you kick ass as a 9 month old pregnant woman and thought “let’s try to give her an even harder challenge!”

MS: [laughs] No, it was definitely worth it. It looked beautiful and it was worth it.

TTVJ: So we’ve gotten to see quite a bit of Mama Earp in the first two episodes. It’s a little surprising to see that not only is she in prison, but she’s also a bit crazy. What did you think when you heard that was the case?

MS: I love it because Wynonna was also in a mental hospital. So I love the idea that she doesn’t just have to go through what she’s going through, but then also she has to wonder if she’s going to end up like her mother too. We all have that fear of whether or not we’re going to repeat our parents’ mistakes or lives and it’s very true for Wynonna. I love that extra conflict layered into the story.

TTVJ: Speaking of Mama Earp, Waverly now knows that Wynonna has known where she’s been this whole time and she’s not so happy about it. What does that revelation mean for the Earp sisters and will be there be fallout ahead?

MS: That’s the great thing about any relationship in this world, it’s always separate from the fact that we have this job to do. I love that there’s that tension though because that’s a big thing to keep secret. That’s a big key to figuring out who you are, and to keep that from somebody and have somebody not know where they come from, have the answer be right beneath their nose and they never knew it, it’s a lot. It’s definitely not going to be the easiest thing to get past.

TTVJ: Before Waverly got her feelings hurt I really enjoyed the scene between you and Dom where she was acting out the charades for the booby trap. You both had a lot of physical comedy to play and can you just talk a little about what that scene was like to film?

MS: That was really funny and I was so jealous of Dom because I had all the lines in that scene. I had to drive the whole thing because I had to remember what my line was just based off memory instead of feeding off her last line sort of thing. She was so great and did such a great job in giving me so much to play with. I think, probably because she’s a dancer, she’s really good at communicating with her body. She did such a good job of getting across, in all her desperation, the information that I needed. It was really good, but also just really funny. It was also fun improving around her gestures because sometimes it was just absurd.

TTVJ: I think of what they ended up using that “breast alligator” was my favorite guess of Wynonna’s.

MS: Oh my god! I can’t remember if that was scripted or not, but it’s funny.

What do you think of Wynonna and Mama Earp’s relationship? Add your comments about her Season 3 journey thus far below!

Wynonna Earp airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on SYFY and Space Channel.