Wynonna Earp EP discusses the 'important milestone' for Wayhaught

Spoiler alert! This article contains details from the second episode of season 2 of Wynonna Earp — so quickly get to another page if you haven’t watched “Shed Your Skin,” because you won’t be able to unmake your peace.

If Wynonna Earp didn’t have problems with spiders before, she sure does now. The latest episode of the Syfy series saw her and Waverly take on a hoard of eight-legged creepy crawlies, only to discover there’s something more sinister (possibly demonic) at play. Not to mention the fact she might be seeing Willa’s ghost, and that Doc appears to be pulling away, both emotionally and in terms of physical revenant-hunting support.

Elsewhere, Agent Lucado, who’s now running the team, has contracted hitmen to take out Dolls (who’s easily dodging her) and struck an under-the-table deal with Doc. As for the mustachioed, still hat-less former sharpshooter, he’s secretly recruited newcomer Rosita to help him with some secret plan in a lab set up under the bar. Meanwhile, Waverly continued digging into her past trying to verify whether she’s truly an Earp, a process that saw her make up with her girlfriend Nicole Haught and consummate their relationship. But fans might have reason to worry: the final shot of the episode saw the youngest Earp (who’s still possessed by the goo she touched at the end of last season) go into “goo mode” and bite into the carcass of the dead spider they’d collected for Black Badge earlier in the episode.

Here, executive producer Emily Andras discusses some of the big moments in “Shed Your Skin.” Plus watch an exclusive video featuring Andras and series star Melanie Scrofano discussing Mercedes Gardner, a new character on the show, and Wynonna’s friend.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Compared to some of the other creatures we’ve seen in Purgatory so far, how powerful is whatever is in Waverly?
EMILY ANDRAS: It’s definitely a threat. How powerful is it? It’s hard to say, but it’s definitely an alpha. It’s a predator.

And then we have Doc, who hasn’t quite replaced his hat yet. What gives?
I know! Hatgate 2017. I swear, there’s going to be candlelight vigils, black armbands, people saying “Remember the Hat.” The only thing worse than if he lost his hat was if he shaved his mustache, but you got to save something for future seasons! Listen, Tim Rozon is a very good-looking man. Doc’s doing just fine, but here’s hoping that there’s some sort of reunion with some sort of headwear at some point.

We saw a lot of him and Wynonna’s new dynamic, where he seems to kind of be pulling away from her a little. Is that strictly because he’s still hurt he saw her kiss Dolls, or is that because of the new deal with Lucado?
It’s a little bit of both. They just haven’t had time to kind of digest [that kiss]. Doc is a proud dude and he spent a lot of time pursuing Wynonna last year, but he’s a real manly man. I just don’t know if he wants to be anyone’s second choice. And he just knows that maybe she needs some time after killing her sister too. But also maybe he’s hurt. It’s a little bit of everything. Like all the best relationships, it’s complicated.

I especially like that we’ve now seen he’s very in tune with her feelings, even if she really hasn’t gotten there yet.
That’s it. He almost reads her better than she reads herself. He definitely knew last episode that them going for a tryst in the shower was just not a great idea. It just didn’t come from a really genuine place versus a broken place. I like that he’s mature. He’s 150 years old. I feel like even after that much time, I might become a grown up, maybe. I don’t know, though. I doubt it. But he just does kind of have a sophistication and maturity to know, maybe, what she’s feeling even before she herself understands it.

What does it mean for Wynonna to have someone who can tell her when she’s not in a good place right now?
It’s critical. As much as she might hate it and resents him and is furious at him in the short term, she definitely knows, in the long term, that Doc has her best interests at heart and that he does know her. They are so similar in temperament. They’re not sure that, deep down, they’re good people. They don’t hate the violence and the action and the grit. They get off on that. They’re adrenaline junkies, so it’s almost too honest, just because they’re mirror images of one another in so many ways. But Wynonna, more than ever, needs people who are going to be honest with her and what she’s going through and what she needs to succeed. So like I said, short-term pain, long-term gain, like the hat.

And then we have Agent Lucado. She’s gunning for Dolls independently of Black Badge, but now she also has this other deal with Doc. Where do her motivations lie?
Lucado shouldn’t be underestimated. She’s wildly ambitious and knows how to play the game. But she obviously has some personal stake in bringing Dolls down, which makes her really, really dangerous. She’s not that interested in being a good boss to Wynonna and the rest of the Scooby gang. She’s basically just biding her time and trying to figure out a way to get out of Purgatory. But because of that, she’s going to put everybody in a lot of danger, because she’s not really looking out for them or she doesn’t have their back. Dolls did, even as he was so annoying and kind of tightly wound.

We also have Rosita, who we just finally met. What can you tease about her? Is she going to fit into the group?
She’s intriguing and alluring, just basically based on the fact that she’s freaking gorgeous. Doc obviously knows her. He seems to know her and what she kind of brings to the table, which is she’s some sort of chemist or biochemist. But at the same time, she doesn’t really seem to like Doc. He ultimately basically blackmails her into working for him, so whether she fits exactly into the team or not, you’re just going to have to wait and see.

We see Waverly investigating her past and it is affecting her, the fact that she might not be an Earp, but it feels like if she told Wynonna, Wynonna wouldn’t care. Would that be the case?
I don’t know if that’s true. Wynonna has killed her own dad. She’s killed her older sister. All she has left is Waverly. So as much as Wynonna is open-minded, Waverly understands that their sisterhood is an incredibly important part of their lives. It’s what Wynonna’s holding on to right now. I agree with you that sisterhood is so much more than blood but I also don’t think Waverly wants to freak out Wynonna until she knows for sure one way or the other. Given all that Wynonna has gone through lately, Waverly is like, I just want to have all my ducks in a row before I bring this up.

I love that she’s trusted Nicole with this information and has her to help her with this.
It’s another level of their relationship — she knows Nicole has her back and won’t judge her. Nicole’s emphasis is to make Waverly happy and support her. It was so nice that even though they had their first fight, it only made them closer and stronger and bond. It’s starting to feel like a real relationship. They’re going from the passion and the dating, although that’s all there, and they’re really connecting. I love that.

How did you know you wanted them to have a big fight going into this season as opposed to building into it?
If you really look at it, they got together pretty quickly last season. All these crazy events happened but they haven’t really had time to just start their relationship. Ultimately it was a fight about Nicole’s career; she’s been denied a promotion that’s really important to her, which just serves, again, to make Nicole more of a three-dimensional character. I don’t want her to just be the girlfriend. Also, that’s what couples fight about. They don’t just fight about being lesbians or being gay or fighting demons. They fight about taxes and dishes and career and different wants and needs. It’s always been really important to me that they’re both three-dimensional characters who have real relationship challenges both supernatural and natural. Your first fight and your first makeup is such a rite of passage that it really deepens the relationship and it shows that, this year, they’re taking it to the next level.

Are there any milestones in the Wayhaught relationship that you’re very excited to tackle this season?
This was the first time they’ve actually consummated their relationship. Things have been so busy that this was the first time Waverly would say they’ve had sex, which was kind of important to tackle just in so far as one of the hallmarks of Nicole’s character is she’s so respectful of Waverly discovering herself. Nicole makes no apologies for her desires and her passion for Waverly but she really lets Waverly drive the sexy bus, so to speak. That was a good, important milestone. And having their first fight was good. But also, obviously, we have a Waverly who is affected by some sort of entity. We’re really going to have to see how well Nicole thinks she knows Waverly. When is it Waverly and when is it not and is Nicole going to be able to suss that out? How well do these two really know each other and can they come together now as people, not just as lovers?

Is there anything you could possibly tease about if Dolls might be coming back?
Don’t keep a good lizard down. That’s all I’ll say about that. Never count out a lizard man. Embroider that on a pillow.

Wynonna Earp airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on Syfy.