Just months after Wynonna Earp returned to film its fourth seasonthis past March following a two-year hiatus, production was temporarily suspended as the COVID-19 pandemic began to sweep across North America.
Speaking with CBR, series star Melanie Scrofano confirmed that the production had been able to complete the first six episodes of Season 4, half of the planned season, before the global health crisis shut things down. Now that the cast and crew have returned to film the final six episodes in Calgary, Scrofano says everyone is still acclimating to the heightened safety precautions to as production resumes.
"It's been a lot of, probably over-precaution, but better [than nothing]! So it's been a lot of relearning, a lot of us are just stumbling through. Day 1 was weird, but Day 2, even, felt a lot better! We have a lot of new rules, even stuff like putting your cup down; you can't do that anymore! You can't even drink on set almost," Scrofano observed in an upcoming interview with CBR. "The things that are just in your muscle memory, we've been doing this for five years. But, as an industry, doing these things that were fine but now, all of a sudden, we're just like, 'Oh my God, I put my thing down! Oh my God, I touched your back!' We're all having these moments of, 'Oh my God, I did a stupid thing!' [Laughs] But we're all so grateful."
Wynonna Earp leads the charge of major television and film productions tentatively resuming principal photography after months of lockdown due to the pandemic. Jurassic World: Dominion has commenced filming again in the United Kingdom while the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is expected to resume filming in the Czech Republic this month. For Scrofano, the ability to go back to work during so much uncertainty in the entertainment industry has made her immensely grateful as the first half of Season 4 prepares to premiere this weekend.
"We're really pioneering the return to work in this industry and what that looks like. We're just happy to have the chance to do it because a lot of shows have been postponed or cancelled," Scrofano said, her enthusiasm apparent. "So we're just like, 'Cool, I will do whatever! I will wear a hazmat suit if it means I get to go back to work!'"
Produced by SEVEN24 Films and IDW Entertainment, Wynonna Earp stars Melanie Scrofano as the title character, Dominique Provost-Chalkley as Waverly, Katherine Barrell as Nicole Haught and Tim Rozon as Doc Holliday. Season 4 premieres July 26 at 10pm ET/PT on Syfy.