SPOILER ALERT: This post discusses the events of the series finale of Wynonna Earp.
In a season 2 episode of the Syfy series Wynonna Earp, the eponymous heroine declares, “This may be a shit show, but it’s our shit show.” That statement served not only as a thesis for the series, but became a rallying cry for Earpers (the show’s devoted fandom) everywhere. Last night saw the series finale, “Old Souls”, offer a cathartic and warm ending for the scrappy little show that could. WayHaught got married, Jeremy took over BBD, and Wynonna and Doc rode off into the sunset, with Wynonna driving, naturally. But we never expected anything less from a series that offered humanity and compassion along with a never-ending supply of dick jokes. Damn, I’m going to miss this show.
Wynnona Earp premiered in 2016 at the height of the Bury Your Gays trope, which saw the death of 62 lesbian and bisexual women characters, most notably The 100‘s Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey). After so many brutalizing years of queerbaiting, one-note characters, and so much death, Emily Andras and Wynonna Earp swept onto the scene, offering a safe space for queer fandom. From the get-go, Andras promised fans she would never give her queer characters the same callous treatment viewers had become inured to.
Four seasons, one bulletproof lesbian, and a bisexual angel later, and Andras has more than delivered on her promise. In an interview with Deadline, she discussed the final season, her season 5 story ideas, and the legacy of Wynonna Earp.
Andras said of the ending, “What was important to me on Wynonna Earp with the finale is to give everybody some version of happiness. It didn’t have to be perfect because Wynonna Earp, both the show and the heroine, have never been perfect. They’re messy. They make mistakes. They’re sly, but I really think the message I wanted to convey was if you can find any semblance of joy and happiness and contentment in your life, that’s good. That’s rare, and you know, sometimes you shouldn’t look a gift in the eye. That’s enough. That can be enough if you let it be enough.”
She continued, “If I had known I had eight seasons, I probably would’ve pushed the wedding a little later, probably would’ve found another reason to keep Wynonna and Doc around, but the wedding really felt like a gift to the fans who have supported us – including members of the LGBTQ community. It’s very rare for two gay characters, particularly women, to have a happy ending on TV. That was not something I was going to compromise on. I was determined to give WayHaught, Waverly and Nicole, a happy ending. And I think they are happy, which is good … I felt that I couldn’t risk having a typical Wynonna Earp finale with a million different cliffhangers. I did think it was worth it for the audience who have been so loyal to at least give them this ending.”
Andras noted that there where story threads and characters she would have explored further in a fifth season, including a resolution for the vampire Kate (Chantel Riley) and for shape-shifting villain Eve. She also wanted to spend more time with Dark Angel Waverly, as well as Nicole’s new role as the Angel’s Shield. Andras said, “There’s always more story, especially in a show like Wynonna Earp. There’s always another demon hiding under the bed, and I’m confident there’s a million different ways to continue telling those stories. If we do a movie 5 or 10 years from now, see where people are at, I would love to do something like that. There’s a million different ways for this to live … Now that it’s been a while, I really do think there’s stuff I can tell, but whatever happens I’m genuinely so grateful to have had this experience.”
Andras also discussed finding herself and her voice while making the series, saying, “I really wanted everybody to have nuance. I really feel like I have been privileged enough to figure out that that’s my brand. I’m really interested in taking traditional male spaces in a genre and just taking all the people who would normally be on the margins of the story and making them the heroes. I really love the idea of taking a Western with Wynonna Earp and making the women the gunslingers and the queer characters the heroes. They’re even the angels … I feel that’s just what I want to do going forward with my storytelling. I just don’t want to ever go back. I think that’s what brings me joy, and I think the passion of the audience shows that there’s just a huge, huge fanbase out there for familiar worlds and familiar genre told through a completely unique and different set of eyes.”
While we’re sad to say goodbye to Wynonna Earp, we can’t wait to see what Emily Andras does next.
(via Deadline, featured image: Syfy)
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