Hello, friends, and welcome back to a new installment of EarperViews! Hiatus is almost over, and the season-three premiere is so close, we can practically lick its potato. And today, I have quite a treat for you. Wonder Woman, lumberjack, Wynonna Earp show runner, and all-around lovely human being Evelyn Andrews Emily Andras is today’s special guest.

I had the pleasure of meeting Emily for the first time at FanExpo in 2016 — a shy, nervous, stammering fangirl wearing the only Fandras shirt in a con with hundreds of Earpers. When I wasn’t lucky enough to get a golden ticket to the cast/Emily signing (AKA a ticket with a Sharpied star on it) after the panel, I was horribly sad that I wouldn’t get to meet this writing idol of mine, but as she walked down the hallway, she spotted the abomination of a shirt I was wearing, came over to me, and asked if she could hug me (because consent is important, kids). All of the subsequent times I have met her have reinforced the fact that Emily is one of the nicest, most genuine people that exists. How lucky are Earpers that she just so happens to run our shit show?

Case in point — she agreed to do an interview for this fan’s tiny blog. 

You’ll see further down that she refuses to take solo credit for the show — and rightly so. It’s a huge team effort between two networks, multiple writers, dozens of actors, and one (1) gorgeous Alberta landscape. But a show is only as good as its bus driver, and while it’s our choice to get on or off of the bus, I (along with a lot of other Earpers) trust where Emily will take us. She shows us time and time again who she is with her tweets, her writing, her behavior at cons, and in her interviews, and I can unequivocally say that I never want to get off this bus. It’s a place where I feel loved, respected, safe, and, most importantly, a place where I feel like I can be myself and still belong.

Thank you, Emily. If you drive us off the cliff, hopefully it’s just because there’s just a really good taco place at the bottom.

Tell us a little bit about your non-Earper alter ego.

I was born in Boston, but raised in Calgary, Alberta. Now I mostly live in Toronto. I was a figure skater and then transitioned into a rugby player (naturally). Am I a feminist? Let’s just say that in middle school, I was the only grade-eight girl who had to ride the school bus with twenty-four grade-eight boys. I am short with a booty that just won’t quit (seriously, I’ve asked it and everything). I believe in people…most of the time.

How did you come to be the showrunner for Wynonna Earp?

Very luckily! IDW was looking to follow Marvel and DC’s lead and develop their catalogue of comic books into television series. They knew that Wynonna Earp was a property that had potential and figured its best chance of success lay with a female writer who knew genre at its helm. I had just finished showrunning Lost Girl, a tongue-in-cheek, progressive fantasy show about a bisexual succubus who feeds off sexual energy (as you do), so I was on IDW’s radar. They got in touch with my agent to see if I would be interested, and he sent me Beau Smith’s comic. I get sent quite a few properties like this, but when I flipped through Wynonna Earp, I genuinely got goosebumps. The comic was dated (it was from the 1990s) and Wynonna was more T&A than Tough and Angry, but I loved that she was a demon hunter working for something called the Black Badge Division. But it was the western element that sealed the deal for me. It felt like a fresh way to do a genre show. And I thought we could bring it ‘home‘; to film in and around Calgary, which is where I’m originally from. Despite our budget constraints, I knew the Albertan landscape could up our production value by tenfold. I set the story in a town called Purgatory, came up with Peacemaker and the Earp Curse and the revenants, and created the characters of Dolls and Nicole and Nedley. I figured anything to do with Wyatt Earp begs for its own Doc Holliday, so we figured out a supernatural way to add him, too. Finally, and most importantly, I knew I had to ground the show emotionally — and I was unabashedly invested in turning the patriarchal Western tropes on their heads — so I added Waverly and Willa Earp, three sisters bound by destiny, tragedy, and a curse. IDW and Seven24 backed me up, and we pitched the show to SYFY as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Justified meets Frozen (because the true love story of the show is the sisters).” SYFY was like “wow, Andras, we’ve certainly never heard THAT pitch before…let’s see if you can pull it off.”  And we still are, thanks to the Earpers. 🙂

What is a favorite fandom memory?

I genuinely don’t have one single favorite fandom memory. I have many and they accumulate every single day. I do hold a particularly special place in my heart for Bonnie and Kevin for adopting the show so early on, and being a beacon for how this fandom was going to operate, i.e. inclusive to everyone, using maximum kindness. It has been a pleasure to get to personally know some fans on Twitter, but it also gives me great joy every time a new Earper shyly introduces themselves via #EarperMeet or #EarperGreet. I am both delighted and wistful of some of the Earper friendships and groups that have cropped up and become their own thing now, separate from the show itself. It has all grown beyond my wildest dream and I’m still not 100 percent sure I’m not being punked BUT DONT TELL ME IF I AM.

What is a favorite con memory?

Listen my dudes: I love going to cons. If my full time job could be getting to travel the world, meeting awesome fans and conning it up, that would be A-ok with me. I have a few favorite con memories. Our first real con was WonderCon and I will never forget the look on the cast’s face when they watched the finished premiere for the first time at that screening. Getting to announce the season three renewal at SDCC in a room full of ecstatic Earpers was sublime. DragonCon was one of the loosest, chillax-est cons I’ve ever been to, and I really got to know some of the super fun fans who went to that one. And finally, I will never forget the size of the crowd and their reaction when Dom and Kat walked out for the Wynonna Earp panel at the first ClexaCon. That’s when I knew we had a real phenomenon on our hands that was resonating with (all the best) people. It was also right after the election and a lot of people in the LGBTQ community were scared and it felt important to tell them “we are with you. We are not going to stop telling your stories and neither should you.” What a privilege that was and still is.

What is your favorite Wynonna Earp/Earper activity?

I really love interacting with fans on Twitter. I also love the live tweeting on Friday night. I get so pumped I can’t go to sleep until Saturday morning!

What has Wynonna Earp come to mean to you?

Everything.It has changed my life, who I am through and through, how I think of myself and, more importantly, the world.If I never have another show or professional triumph, Wynonna Earp would still be more than enough for me. The fact that people understand what I was trying to do, to get out of my head onto the page and then the screen, both in a hilarious, laugh-out-loud, whoop-it-up level and another, deeper, more emotional level, is all a writer could ever hope for. And to do it with THIS cast?? I must be the luckiest woman in show business. I mean it.

Sweet potato or Yukon gold potato?

Check this out: I don’t care much for potatoes. So I’m going rogue and saying anything in sour cream and onion chip form.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you Liszewsbian?

Off the charts. Immeasurable. Would take a Liszwesbullet for her.

Describe why Liszewsbian is a thing in 7 words or less.

She knows good storytelling could save us.

What’s the Earpiest thing you’ve ever done?

Many secret, shameful things I’ll never admit to…before whisky. In my every day life, I try to stick up for other women in show business, I guess that’s pretty Wynonna Earp-y….but as per Earper behaviour…I ​ begged Sally and Rebecca, a.k.a. fangirlshirts, to design me a mug that has “Not A Thing” splashed over the Fandras (barf)​ slogan. And they did! And I drink my coffee in it every day! Gotta stay scared and humble or you’re already dead​, right?

Is there anything from seasons one or two that has slipped under the radar that you wish people had picked up on and/or discussed?

Not really! I’m happy the show is being talked about at all. I love reading fan theories and analysis. I am occasionally chuffed when someone tweets out or highlights a good line that maybe didn’t get much attention earlier, but… I like the fandom riding its own current, so to speak. Once the show goes out into the wild, I’m just along for the ride, too.

Please choose one new character from season 3 and tell us something we don’t know about them.

I’ll choose all of them and tell you this: none of them are what they appear to be and you should not trust their motivations or stories. Except when they’re telling the truth. But when is that? Anyway, they’re all so squee-worthy in completely different ways. I’m stoked for y’all to meet them!

Please elaborate on your feelings regarding mushrooms on pizza.

They are delicious flavor bombs with just enough sophistication that it makes me feel fancy when I’m mowing down ‘za.

Does Doc Holliday use a mustache comb?

Doc Holliday uses whatever he likes. I don’t know if you know this but he’s everybody’s type.

Will we see either of my two favorite underrated characters in season 3, Calamity Jane or Chrissy Nedley?

Anything is possible in Purgatory, Cathy!

How does it feel to know you’re responsible for changing so many people’s lives for the better?

I am not solely responsible. It is a team effort, very much thanks to the networks, the writers, the crew, and of course, the cast! This show is magical. One of a kind. So many elements came together in a way that can only be described as lightning in a bottle. Everyone feels so invested in the work and also moved by the response and tone of the fandom. It feels amazing, and even better to share it with everyone who makes the show — and the Earpers themselves.

What can we do to be better fans, viewers, and Earpers?

The number-one thing is also the most obvious: ALWAYS watch live if you can and tweet along using the hashtag on Friday nights (9 pm on SYFY and SPACE).  Then re-watch off your DVR within 48 hours (like, over the weekend). Keep spreading the word. Keep recruiting more Earpers. Retweet big media pieces about Wynonna Earp to show publications that Earpers are reading and liking them writing about the show. Keep up the polite no-chill to SYFY and Space (emphasis on polite, please. They have kept this little underdog show ticking and deserve all the credit in the world for that). Welcome, newbies, and stay kind — and sexy (as if you could stop).

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All of the thanks to Emily for taking time out of her busy schedule to play along and be EarperViewed! I hope you had as much fun doing it as we all had reading it.

Thanks for reading, friends, and here’s to the season premiere. I’ll see you July 16th at 11pm ET for the sneak peek on Syfy. I just have this feeling we’re all going to absolutely fucking love it.

Stay Earpy and don’t get Peacemakered, friends!