Like Wynonna Earp, Revival is based on an Image Comics graphic novel. How do the two compare and contrast?
Well, that’s so funny. One of my first things was like, “I can’t try to copy Wynonna.” I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to differentiate enough, because I know it’s so special and deserves to be left intact and I shouldn’t be just ripping it off. So, it was really an attempt to go, “What are the differences here?” And for me, right off the bat, she’s a single mother — with not-great hair [unlike Wynonna].” Don’t tell my hair guys that [laughs]. She’s just trying to get through the day as a single mother with a really hard job — but ultimately, she actually does want to be doing this. Whereas, I think Wynonna always kind of rebelled against what she was doing. Wynonna, especially at the beginning, was like, “I don’t want this, I can barely hold a gun and I’d rather be elsewhere.” Dana wants to be elsewhere, but it’s because she wants to get away from her family — feeling a bit claustrophobic in a town that feels claustrophobic. She wants the opportunities that she can get somewhere else, so that she can rewrite her story.
This show really puts its own spin on the genre, with zombies that are mostly just regular people with whom the rest of the town must find some way to co-exist . . .
The magic of genre is that you can kind of do whatever you want. And so, when you say it’s a “zombie show” and people expect something, then you get to come in and go, “Actually, guess what else it could be!” You get to go, “It could also be true crime.” You can do all of these cool things with it that you haven’t seen before. It’s a fun twist that is hopefully refreshing to people.
You’re also a producer here. What was your approach to finding the right way to adapt Revival for a visual medium?
With Wynonna, the biggest takeaway for me was . . . we weren’t so married to [the comic] that it was a chokehold. Because I think when you’re trying to just replicate it exactly, there’s no room to breathe — and I do think people get disappointed when it doesn’t have its own life . . .
Especially on a show like this where we’re not dealing with a massive budget. It would be nice to replicate everything we want to replicate, but at a certain point you’ve got to get creative and start going, “OK, well, we can’t do this, but what can we do, and how can we best do it?” That’s where real magic comes. That’s where the real creativity happens. Don’t get me wrong, I’d take 10 extra dollars, but we’re so blessed as creatives to have the problem of overcoming challenges, because it just makes us better.
Wynonna Earp has such a diehard fandom. What is your most memorable encounter with a viewer?
I have so many. People would come up and say, “You taught me — Wynonna taught me — that my vulnerability can be my greatest strength.” Because I’m such a vulnerable person, I really open myself up to pain a lot, and I actually always thought of it as a weakness. I hated how easily I cry. And for people to say, “You taught me that’s actually my greatest superpower, my crying can be a strength, and it’s courageous,” shifted my whole perspective on life. It made me want to offer that to other people that I work with now — like actors that I’m directing; I want to allow them to feel safe in being who they are, because somebody out there is going to see themselves in it and feel the strength of what they offer.
The season finale of Revival airs Thursday, August 14, on CTV Sci-Fi
MEMORABLE ROLES:
You’ve seen her on Kiefer Sutherland’s Designated Survivor as slippery White House correspondent Lisa Jordan; boozy wildcard Mrs. McMurray on Letterkenny; and Cpt. Pike’s fellow captain-with-benefits Marie Batel in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. But this Ottawa native is, no doubt, best known as quick-shootin’ demon hunter Wynonna Earp on the cult-hit comic book series of the same name.
CURRENT GIG:
Nowadays, Melanie Scrofano leads Revival, an offbeat horror mystery about one conflicted Wyoming deputy who must somehow keep the peace when the dead start coming back to life.