Motherland: Fort Salem is back with an even more intense season 2. The second season premiered on June 22 and picked up in the aftermath of the jaw-dropping finale. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with creator Eliot Laurence about where things are headed post-premiere.
Eliot teased a “big reveal that will change that dynamic” as Raelle and Abigail investigate the witchbomb and revealed what Tally’s terrifying vision really means. He also confirmed that Raelle and Scylla will “come back together” at some point in the season. Plus, where does Raelle’s mom fit into all of this? Read our full Q&A below:
About that ending… Tally has this vision and wakes up with markings on her. What can you say about what that means and where we’re going to go with that?
Eliot Laurence: It’s so exciting. I love that storyline so much. So at the end of last year, remember in 110, when Alder and Tally were in that cave having that really intense confrontation. Alder says to Tally, “I’m a general. I make these kinds of terrible decisions every day of my life, and I stand by every decision I ever made.” Season 2 in a big way is about questioning if that’s actually true, and if maybe there isn’t one that got away from Alder that she truly regrets and truly has PTSD about. Because of this connection with Tally through the biddy-ship, some of that PTSD along with the memories is going to go into Tally. It’s a season where it’s about the seeds of revolution, right? And that is one of the cracks in the institution that we’re going to explore this year and kind of blow everything up.
But those worms. I mean, I already have a thing about bugs and insects. Those things were huge.
Eliot Laurence: So basically what we’re seeing in that vision like I’m kind of intimating with the stuff about Alder, we’re seeing a battle that took place about 25 years previous to the time of this show. It’s a dirty colonial war, and we’re starting to get into military history and stuff like that. There’s a lot more to that. No more worms. I will say that.
The reveal that Raelle’s mom is alive was another big shocker last season. In this first episode of season 2, Scylla and Willa are working together in a big way, while Raelle has no idea this is even happening. How is that dynamic going to continue as the season moves forward?
Eliot Laurence: They work pretty well together. I think, ultimately, more than their connection to the Spree, they’re united by the fact that they both absolutely love Raelle to the end of time. Through that relationship, we’re going to explore Willa’s regret and her sort of inability to figure out how to reach out to Raelle. And if she can and if she even should, does that put Raelle in danger? I think through Willa and Scylla both I think we’re seeing the face of a changing Spree. The Spree have this very important ideology. They want to end conscription because they believe a witch should be able to choose her own life and her daughter’s life and her daughter’s daughter’s life. They object to this idea that witches are conscripted and have gone to terrible means to make that ideology known. I think another big theme of the season is that we’ve been fighting the army, meanwhile, there’s the Camarilla people. The other fun thing about this year is we have a face on the Camarilla now this year. I can’t wait for you to meet him.
Last season, it seemed like the Spree were the main villain. But now we see that the Camarilla are a force to be reckoned with? Will the Camarilla be the main enemy of season 2?
Eliot Laurence: They’re kind of an undeniable one. They’re not just scary and bad and stuff. They want to end witches. They want to end witches if they’re Spree or military. It doesn’t matter to them. The thing that offends them is witch-hood itself, so it’s an opportunity for people that were formerly enemies to join forces against a much more pressing enemy.
It seems more dangerous than ever.
Eliot Laurence: It is. The network at the end of season 1 was like, “Thank you for this great season. How do you keep it going? How do you amp it up?” I think we actually did it. It’s a very, very perilous season. There’s a lot of danger. There’s a lot of new magic that’s super scary and fresh.
The episode begins with the reveal that the vice president’s daughter is a witch. The VP seems very hesitant about this world and putting his daughter in this position. What kind of friction will that cause, especially with him and Alder?
Eliot Laurence: On Silver for a second, he didn’t know that his late wife was a witch. He didn’t know that his daughter was a witch, so there’s just this adjustment period that happens. I think he does a pretty good job of it. But he does immediately see his daughter in a different light. That moment in the church it’s like, you’re not quite who you were. Growing up queer, I think a lot of us have that experience with our own parents, so I think it resonates in a cool way that way. Silver’s a very confident and very good-looking guy, so I think he’s used to making things go his way with his charm and that did not happen with Alder and Anacostia. They were not buying what he was selling at all. So that tension is real, and it’s palpable through this season. But mostly it’s just about a dad trying to get his head around that this is still my daughter. It’s a big deal for us.
While Scylla is off with Willa at the moment, she’s separated from Raelle in a big way. Will Raelle and Scylla end up coming back to each other at some point?
Eliot Laurence: I’m just going to say that they will because we love them, but as writers, it was hard to get them in the right orbit that they could come back. The end of the season last year put them at such opposite ends of the field, so it was about trying to figure out how we can bring them back together because their romance is just like the whole thing. I love them so much.
Abigail and Raelle have survived this witchbomb. What can you tease about how they’re going to be dealing with these new powers and investigating it moving forward?
Eliot Laurence: As we get deeper and deeper into what the witchbomb is and what it did, there is going to be a big reveal that will change that dynamic. Without giving away too much, I’ll say that it just forces Abigail to start questioning what she is and what does it mean to be a Bellweather, and how can I do that in a completely new way that is satisfying to me?