Wynonna Earp creator wanted to craft a satisfying finale that left its future open

Los Angeles Times

The beloved Syfy series ended Season 4 with its future up in the air as the series still searches for a U.S. distributor for a potential fifth season. Although creator and showrunner Emily Andras had no news about the future of the show, she said that there are more stories to tell about Wynonna and her family. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to the fate of the show but we aren’t necessarily going anywhere,” said Andras. “We are very cognizant of the fandom. We have each other. We have friendships and relationships. I think there’s a million different ways to tell Earp stories, and I hope that people continue to find Wynonna Earp, one way or another.” Andras pointed out she did not know while filming Season 4 that this season would be the show's last on Syfy. "I did not know," she says. "I 100% did not know and it’s been a real rollercoaster. But my gut told me that I had to make sure Season 4 was satisfying for the fans, our Earpers who had worked so hard to bring us back after our financial troubles after Season 3. I was determined one way or another to make sure that it was emotionally fulfilling in a way I hadn’t been in previous seasons where I was like, 'I am 100% ending on 116 cliffhangers and I dare you to cancel us. Good luck.' I felt like that wouldn’t be fair this time given how hard the fans had rallied for us, so I just wasn’t willing to take the same chance. But you can’t write from a place of fear at the end of the day. You have to honestly write the absolute best story you can, hopefully give the cast the best stuff to perform, make it fun, make it stuff they haven’t tried before — that’s all you can do. You can’t constantly hum and haw your chances or you’ll just never get out of that paralysis. You kind of have to Art of War it. You kind of have to write as if you’re already dead and just be like, 'maybe we can do a trivia night with a cannibal.'"

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• Thank you to Wynonna Earp for being messy and vulgar: "For years, women have tried and succeeded in pushing past the limitations that society put on them," says Lyra Hale. "That’s especially true for TV, where women have suffered through being caricatures of cookie-cutter versions of themselves with no differences to speak of. Wynonna has joined the ranks of the women who have broken new ground in moving beyond those portrayals. She isn’t perfect, and neither is she like anyone else I’ve ever seen. She’s messy, she’s weird, she’s vulnerable. And she’s completely Wynonna. Thank you for being vulgar. Women are often told to 'act like a lady' when we’re cursing, speaking loudly, or stepping into an arena that is mainly male-dominated. The Earp heir has no time for that nonsense, and she’s not going to let gender stereotypes stop her from being unapologetically Wynonna. She curses, she drinks, she sleeps with whomever she pleases, and she does it because it’s her choice and no one else’s."
• Wynonna Earp was a game-changer, coming at a dark time for queer women on TV: "The spring of 2016 might have been remembered solely as a dark time for queer women on television," says Tracy Brown. "An overwhelming number were being killed off in scripted TV, often simply to advance their straight counterparts’ storylines. Even in the context of TV’s long history of offing LGBTQ characters, the numbers were grim: according to a 2016 tally by GLAAD, more than 25 queer women died on scripted TV and streaming shows in that year alone. Then came Wynonna Earp."
• Melanie Scrofano and her castmates discuss the finale: "I remember when we did the read-through — and we had to do it on Zoom — and I couldn't read the script before we did the read-through because it was too final, I couldn't do it," says Scrofano. "Tim (Rozon) kept saying, 'You're gonna love it, bro.' I'm like, 'What does that mean?' He's like, 'You're gonna cry.' Then sure enough, I loved it."
• Creator Emily Andras learned Wynonna Earp wouldn't be returning to Syfy in January or February after wrapping filming in August
• Wynonna Earp fans are hoping the show lands on Paramount+
• Andras says the empty chairs in the finale were a happy accident due to the pandemic
• How Wynonna Earp became a meditation on heroism
• By every measure, Wynonna Earp had a pretty perfect finale