Hey, everybody.
I am Lindsay MacDonald from TV Guide.
And I am so thrilled today to be moderating the Comic-Con@Home panel for Motherland: Fort Salem.
Before I introduce our amazing panelists.
Freeform has put together a cool recap video for us to remind us of all the twists and turns in season one.
So let's check it out.
I do solemnly pledge to protect and defend the Army of the United States.
Welcome to Fort Salem. This witch's place.
You will rise or fall as Units.
That is just the beginning.
Let's all take a breath.
It's life and death out there.
You think I don't know that?
My mom died in a firefight in Liberia last year.
For those who gave their lives.
I want to show you something beautiful.
We will need all of you to meet what's coming with storm and fury.
The Spree are ruthless and savage.
Every attack is worse than the last.
They will appear normal in every way, except for being agents of the end.
Let them train you.
Let them make you powerful.
When you walk through the fire.
You shall not be burned.
You did it.
How the hell did you get here?
She's mine.
Scylla is Spree.
Why did you pick me?
The Spree have two trucks full of mines making their way southbound to Boston.
Cadets are the only ones close enough.
They aren't ready.
There's civilians inside.
Are you refusing the order?
No, ma'am.
As one.
You've kept me in the dark about all of this.
Madam President I must—
Enough.
What if it's not the Spree?
Many governments want what we have.
I would follow you anywhere.
I will help you find my people.
What are you doing?
Hold onto the part of you that's good.
We're being watched.
Stay vigilant.
You made us into murderers.
I made you into soldiers.
Our ancient enemy has returned.
Let's go.
Take me.
I can't move her.
You need to let me go.
You were supposed to bring me my daughter.
To talk us through all those crazy cliff-hangers.
We have the cast of Motherland: Fort Salem here with us.
So let's introduce the panelists.
First up we have showrunner Eliot Laurence.
Go ahead and say hi and tell us where you are calling in from.
Hey everybody. I'm in Pasadena, California.
Next we have Taylor Hickson who plays Raelle Collar.
Hi. I'm calling in from Kelowna BC, Canada
And we have Ashley Nicole Williams who plays Abigail Bellweather.
Hi. I'm calling in from Dallas, Texas.
That's where I'm from.
Southern. Yeah.
We have Jessica Sutton who plays Miss Tally Craven.
Hey. I'm calling in from Cape Town, South Africa.
We have Demetria McKinney who plays Anacostia Quartermaine.
What it do? Calling from ATL shawty.
Next up we have Miss Amalia Holm who plays Scylla Ramshorn.
Hi. I'm calling in from Stockholm, Sweden.
And finally we have Miss Lyne Renée who plays General Sarah Alder.
Hi. I'm calling in from London, United Kingdom.
So first up I absolutely have to start with the biggest cliff-hanger of all from season one.
Eliot did you always know that Raelle's mother was going to be alive?
And that that was going to be the finale twist?
And how is it going to impact season two?
Actually we did not know in the writers' room.
And as much as we like to keep you guys guessing and like "What the what?"
We also try to do that to ourselves in the writers' room.
And came out of one of those "What if?" moments and we ran with it.
So we're going to be on the ground in a Spree cell.
We're going to learn what that feels like.
We're going to learn how the Spree is changing.
And inevitably Scylla and Willa, they both end with "a,"
they will both be sort of pulled by this inevitable kind of story gravity towards Raelle.
And they will blow up with Raelle at a really shocking time in the season.
But Raelle's going to have a lot to say to her mom.
I think there's going to be a lot of grief to process
but also anger like "Wait you chose them over me?"
What is that about? So it's going to be very dramatic.
Taylor how did you react when you found out about that twist?
And how do you think Raelle's going to feel finding out her mom's alive?
I was completely mind blown.
We kind of had our suspicions but to have them affirmed,
I think we were all screaming when we read the script.
I didn't know you guys were suspecting a little bit.
That's awesome.
Yeah. Taylor totally was like "What if my mom is still alive?"
And I was like "Taylor, come on. Really?"
That's a lot.
"Like I don't know." Yeah.
Well now I officially need to know all of your fan theories for season two
because they were all right.
Yeah.
Actually I do too. Can you send them to me really quickly?
Hilarious.
I expected Raelle to be honestly quite angry with her mother.
That seems to be her go-to staple emotion.
But if you really think about being subjected to grief that intense for so long.
Being it out of love or protection it's still hard to justify.
And so I'd actually say that the reveal of the information might
heavily influence her initial reaction.
If It's very sudden or a total surprise,
I would expect probably knee-jerk reaction and her to feel quite betrayed.
But if it's something that she's suspicious of and it's a gradual reveal,
then she'd probably have more time to grasp the possibility
and it might maybe stabilize her reaction a bit more.
But that I guess that then it would be more of a joyous reunion.
It's all mixed because there's joy in it too.
And there's definitely kind of a mother shaped hole in Raelle's life that she longs for.
It's just going to be a lot of layered stuff at the same time which Taylor is incredible at.
And Amalia this is obviously going to complicate things even further between Scylla and Raelle.
I want to know Amalia are you shocked that fans latched onto your character so quickly and loved her?
Because she was introduced as a villain basically.
Yes. I mean I remember even talking to— I think I talked to Eliot about it and maybe Demetria too,
that I was like "Okay so how do I prepare to be hated by everyone?"
How do you do that?
Because I mean we're actresses we like to be liked.
And now I would go in and be a terrorist.
And that's especially for the pilot when we didn't know what was going to happen ahead.
But no I was very shocked actually.
And I guess it also gives a lot of credit
to Taylor for acting as such a protagonist that people would sympathize
with what she's feeling towards Scylla and tag along with her.
So just that playing off each other.
You're so lovable as a person and it really radiates in your character.
You physically made it impossible to hate you.
And I think that's why Raelle will come around.
That's what I'm hoping.
But you really played with the morally gray areas of people.
And if you look close enough at traditional idealism and of good and evil or black and white.
It's really muddied throughout the whole show in almost every character I'd say.
I think that's what makes you so relatable and so lovable is because people F up.
They make mistakes and it's like the rest of us.
And I think that only leaves room for personal growth.
And no one ever thinks that they're the bad guy. They're all fighting for their cause.
I mean they're doing the good thing fighting the good fight.
So I think that made you impossibly lovable.
Thank you.
I agree yeah.
I think there are a few haters still out there so they're problem. Great.
I'm wearing white today to manipulate those few who are still hating.
They see I'm an innocent.
This show plays around with good and evil and perspective and  who the good guys are.
Especially with Sarah.
So can you sort of speak a little bit to that?
Are there any good guys in this story?
I think our Unit is pretty damn good.
I think our main three are pretty solid good people.
But it is a show that wants to embrace the gray and the layers and the reasons why.
And all of that stuff. And to be provocative and dangerous.
Particularly with Alder, I mean you've got to assume that after over 300 years of life,
she's been through her dark periods. And her awful periods. And her great periods. And her ...
She's a human being. And because she's been able to live so long,
she's been through way too much for any one soul to bear.
That's how I think of her, Lyne.
I think that's why I fell in love with Alder so much. Because she is very much in that gray zone.
And you never really know who you have in front of you. And it changes as well, the same with Amalia.
I have a lot of fans that are like, "I don't know whether to love her or hate her."
And they're all dubious about it. And not sure whether she's good or bad.
But I feel— What Eliot just said, with Alder having been through so much.
I don't think that Alder considers herself bad. On the contrary.
She stands for everything that's good. Everything that's good for her country
that she's been fighting for for that long.
Everything good for her recruits, that are her daughters. And her Biddies that keep her alive to lead.
So it's a very beautiful disbalance, almost, that
I love playing with, having been given the opportunity to play Alder.
Jessica, Tally, really had to go to some extreme.
She started to question everything she believed in.
What do you think, after all that back and forth, spurred her
to make the decision to become a Biddy?
Well, the necessity of the moment.
We're just talking about the moment itself on the battlefield.
I think there was just no way that the Unit was going to get out
of there without Alder and her power.
It was impulsive. The moment to do the right thing. And to come back to how morality is very much gray,
I think back to the scene between Tally and Alder in the cave.
And I think that was a really inciting incident between the two of them.
And especially as the last chapter of season one,
we'd seen Tally's arc being  one of her naivete being slowly chipped away.
And her innocence, while pure, was very much ignorant.
And lessons are bound to come her way.
And in this beautiful arc that Eliot wrote, she's maturing.
She's waking into the woman. And waking into the witch. And waking into her power.
And just thinking back to how she was in the pilot. As this idealistic, sweet ...
She still sweet. But I think the idealism is really something that sticks.
And her seeing Alder as this idol of symbolizing everything as good and just in the world.
And to see that idol fall. In her eyes, anyway, is—
Has been part of that journey of realizing that your morality is very much
deciding, in the moment, what the right thing is to do.
And that comes with compromise. And that comes with sacrifice.
I think Alder recognizes that. Because I think Tally, for Alder, is a toughish one to crack.
She keeps on rebelling in the arc when we finally do get to leave together.
And she sees that. And I think that Alder recognizes herself in that.
That Alder used to be the young witch that wants to find her place.
With all her question marks. And all the wonders about this world. And having to find her place.
And I think so much has happened to her. And then to have Tally face her and stand up like she does.
I mean, nobody talks to Alder that way. And I think Alder almost lets her
be that direct and question everything. To see that she makes that arc. And that she grows through that.
And of course, when that moment comes, that she is the one that stands up to save her was just ...
Again, she too is her daughter. And she sees all of her recruits very much as her daughters.
I love the question, Lindsay.
Because I think the whole show is always going to be wrestling
with this idea of what is necessary force? What is justifiable?
And I think that's going to play through many of our character's dynamics.
And it's playing beautifully with Lyne and Tally.
And it will continue to in season two.
Oh, I can't wait.
Speaking of, do we think she's gonna get un-Biddified?
Or are we gonna keep Jessica in old people makeup forever?
I don't really give that away quite yet. But I what I will say, which we are having so much
fun writing too, is that the connection of Biddy-ship is so profoundly intimate.
It's like— It's a psychic bond. It's sort of like—
It's almost like mother, daughter, lover.
It's profoundly deep.
And that will haunt Tally through the entire season.
Because Tally will start to remember Alder's memories.
Bruh.
Yep.
I love this.
Woo!
Well, Ashley, my next question is for you.
Because Abigail experienced a similar conflict
between her own ambition and what she knew was right.
Do you think the finale was a turning point for her character?
And not only choosing to go on this mission. But also to stay behind and to save Raelle.
I do. I think it's a complete 360.
Because she starts off being, "Rah rah rah," the Army and everything.
Because she was born to be in the Army.
Her mom Petra is a General. And she had Gem Bellweather and all
of these higher-ups in the Army. So I think starting to question
the Army and question if what we're doing is genuinely good.
For the world or people. When Libba dies and then when she's introduced to Adil.
He scared of our helicopters and we're like, "Well, why is that?
What have our helicopters done in your hometown?" And going on this trip to save his people and then not leaving Raelle.
And dropping War College for her Unit.
That's a lot.
That's a lot because she— That was her whole thing.
Coming into Fort Salem was, "I'm getting to War College.
No one's going to stand in my way."
So I think going from being about herself to being about the Unit.
And learning that there's no "I" in team is ...
It's a beautiful character arc. And I think she'll carry that into next season.
Because there's no turning back, I think, for her. Now that she's about her Unit.
And I think Raelle and Abigail are kind of together at this point.
There's no suffering them at all after that witch bomb.
So I think this will have a lot more— a lot more depth to her now.
Demetria, I have to ask about Anacostia too.
Because in this talk about who's good and who's evil she, to me, feels like the moral compass of the show.
I'm always like, "She's got it. Anacostia is on the right track."
Do you see her character that way?
So here's the thing. When I came into knowing who
Anacostia was, I felt such a connection to her.
I felt like I knew her. I felt like she was kind of the straight arrow on the field.
It was or it wasn't. And in understanding that she is kind of a hodge-podge of all the characters.
She's had her vulnerable, blossom-esque, angel-emoji Tally moments.
She's had her renegade, angry, "I don't need anybody" Raelle moments. And of course, she walks with her astuteness
because she understands the powers with which she has grown, which is Alder.
So she has her Bellweather within her. On top of all of that,
she has been a sponge soaking in the sea of Alder.
I think that what she's learned, going into all of these newer situations,
is that every sponge has holes for a reason. There is a lot of different things that go wrong.
There are a lot of different outlets that have to happen.
And without letting some of that pressure out, and being able to sift through
what you take in, you can be anybody's tool.
And not wanting to be a tool or an advocate for the wrong things,
I think is becoming a big part of who Anacostia is.
It's been so weird because when I see people talking about Mama Costia, I was like, "I'm nobody's Mama on this show."
Demetria, what do a couple of your friends call you?
They call me Mama Bear. They call me Mama Costia.
It's just this matronly thing that I wanted to dash onto the top.
But, I guess it's become the umbrella while everybody's figuring out who they are to be next.
I love the way that— We've all given Eliot his moment of praise,
but I have to give mine. The writing in this thing is just so well thought.
It's just so poignant. And each character, while they may have derivative things that attach to them,
is so unique and very, very specific.
So seeing us all play together and getting an opportunity
to be recognized as the straight arrow,
that's going a little bit waverly now, is a really cool journey.
That was one of my favorite parts of season one,
was seeing Anacostia and Scylla play off of each other.
I'm curious for you and Amalia. Your thoughts on that relationship.
And where you want to see it go in season two.
Well, we want to see it go anywhere it can go to.
And it does. It does.
Yeah. You guys are off now.
I mean, Anacostia let you go.
And as to why, I think part of it was Anacostia was not ready to throw Scylla
in the garbage and let her rot in a Caribbean prison.
A Caribbean witch prison, which I'm dying to go to in the show some day. That would be scary.
But you were not willing to do that.
But Anacostia is also very strategic and very smart.
And I think we've seen a few people voice frustrations
about what Alder's doing about the Spree.
And Anacostia kind of took that into her own hands and cooked up a mission
to let Scylla go and see where she goes.
And follow her and get some stuff done.
We're in the waiting room about to do our auditions
and this is the first set of eyes I see.
And so to see her and to know how nervous we were to come into this thing,
and as soon as she told me who she was, I was like, "Oh. You've got it. Period. Point-blank. Hands down."
So to have been on this ride with Amalia from the very, very, very beginning.
Literally.
And then, to get to have that kind of interaction —
that mind chess that we had within that dungeon.
And see the parallels. And see the differences. And see the colors.
The ebbs, the flows that we mesh with together has just been an absolute honor and a privilege.
I think you are absolutely amazing.
All of y'all are.
But that moment that we had was just something that
I really, really look forward to.
It was such a culmination of this kind of passive-aggressive power struggle
between the two of them.
Only to understand they're so much more alike than they wanted to admit.
In the beginning, I was really sad that I missed that whole process
of everybody getting to meet each other.
Because everybody had been cast but the General.
But then, afterwards, I was very happy that I didn't meet any one of them
because I had to have such a separation between me and them.
And try to carry that power.
Because I remember so well when that role came to me, I was so scared.
I've never been more scared to try and portray a certain role like Alder
because she's so far from who I am.
And it was such a great exercise to try and get all that power.
And I remember coming to set, where everybody was just like,
"Oh my God. It's the General."
And I was like, "How do I make this work and make everyone believe?"
I think it was two or three weeks in, when I arrived on set and where
crew members started going, "General. Good morning."
And I was like, "Oh my God. I've got her. This is excellent.
I've got her. Now I believe it."
No. Lyne, I told you my first day on set when—
Because Lyne just came in just to read off her lines.
She wasn't even on camera for me.
And I was just like, "Oh my God. That's her.
That's the General. Oh my God."
You just had this presence. This power.
Like, no one can touch me. No one can mess with me.
And then I hear you goofing off and I'm like, "Oh. This is not her at all."
I think the power that you bring
to Alder is just insane because you're right.
It is the complete opposite of you. So that just shows how great of an actress you are.
The Camarilla sort of dropped in here as the new big bad.
When I was like, "How do you get badder than the Spree?"
What can you tell us about them in season two?
Oh, man. They're bad.
I mean, this makes the Spree look like, "Let's have them over for a barbecue. No big deal."
They're fine.
I see why they're angry, right?
No. The Camarilla are genuinely horrible.
They were a witch-hunting organization.
They were alive and active back in early Alder days.
And they were the ones who were behind the inquisition.
Behind the chaos of the burning times in Europe.
Using all of that chaos to root out witch families.
And literally, their stated aim is to wipe the stain of witch blood from the world.
They're openly, right out front genocidal.
And they're really, really bad.
And what we're going to see in season two are these very, very different
and very full of conflict organizations.
The Spree and the Army.
Starting to realize, "Wait a minute. We might have the same enemy.
We might want to help each other because if they win, we're all gone."
And Lyne, do you think this is a great opportunity to explore
more of Alder's backstory, since we do have 300 years of history to dig into?
Yeah, I think so. And also, the Camarilla is an enemy that Alder thought she had defeated.
She didn't just think it. She was convinced that
she had defeated and extinguished—
Is that the right word?
Yeah.
Also, the Camarilla are the ones that came after and have killed so many of her personal family.
They took their voice chords and they're all in that box.
And they wanted Lyne's. They wanted Alder's very badly and they didn't get it.
So when they came with the box in my office and they said
that it could be the Camarilla.
For Alder, it was almost an insult.
Like, "How could you? I diminshed them such a long time ago."
So for them to come back, that's very personal.
And a journey that is going to come back
and is going to face Alder with a lot of her backstory.
And I think we're going to get to see a lot more of Alder
that will come to the surface that we didn't know before,
and will make you as an audience,
I think, understand her better. Or not.
I do want to also take a minute to talk about the way the show approaches
women and their sexuality because this is such a sex-positive show.
And for the first time, we're seeing women aren't shamed for having sex.
It makes them stronger.
So Eliot, if you want to speak to that, and I know probably some of you all
have thoughts on it too.
Well, I'm such an expert on female sexuality.
I am a world-renowned expert.
But what I wanted to do was exactly what you said.
To create a space where
women are not problematized for having lust and sexuality.
And the other thing is, it felt very loyal to the research around witchcraft.
My view of witchcraft is not satanic.
It's more of a fertility cult that's in nature religion.
And back in those days, I mean, it's about sex.
And it's about bounty and harvest and all of that stuff and it's not
problematized in the way that happens in Judeo-Christian religions.
And it leaves women in a very free place with regard to sexuality and agency.
Yeah. I think you can tell Abigail has a lot of that.
No. But I think
something that I love that Eliot did with this,
is that in our society women are shamed
or they're called a hoe or things like that if they are free, sexually.
It doesn't matter how many people you've been with or whatever.
And I think when it's flipped with the male, you're kind of applauded for
how many girls you get and things like that.
So to see Abigail be with two guys and take complete control
is just a total role reversal.
And I know our show focuses a lot around women empowerment
and I just feel like, with that, it doesn't matter what anyone says.
You can be who you want
and do what you want.
And not feel ashamed and things of that nature.
And I just love that because we attack
so many stigmas in our society and flip them.
So I feel like women can feel more empowered
by who they are and not shut down, like our society tends to do with us.
The idea that love is love. Period.
We're definitely dealing with a lot of female sexuality, but female-on-female sexuality, as she just mentioned.
You know, having two guys, whatever your preference is.
Whatever your preference is, love is love.
Power is power. Desire is desire.
And at the base of it, it's primal. It's natural.
It's human.
And whether you're a witch or other, those are things that we just naturally need.
As he said, it's an opportunity
to look at things through a different lens.
You know, every time I heard about a witch, it was a cult.
It was a weird nose-wart lady that ate eye of newt and all that other stuff.
But we're taking these opportunities
to really embody a different perspective.
Sexually.
Mentally. Emotionally.
With all of these different things that we're attacking,
it's just been really, really cool.
And I ain't get to do the Beltane thing,
but, you know, watching it made me feel powerful.
We'll get you a Beltane moment in season two.
Oh. Now, you better lay low.
I can't have my potato salad out just for no reason.
But it's also very refreshing.
Maybe Alder will get you in with her.
But it's very refreshing as well
because even with the Witchfather,
it's the first time that you don't see a romantic underlying thread
for why these two people have to come together.
She basically knows how the Witchfather serves her sexually,
without it having to become complicated.
And I thought that was so refreshing and so renewing,
without it having to be a woman going like, "Oh my God. Is  it going to be ..."
No. She just literally knows how he can serve her and uses him for that exactly.
And I thought that was incredibly powerful.
And he's honored to do it too because this is
part of his faith too. And there's the sacredness mixed with the carnal stuff.
I just love.
I think it's such an original take on it all.
And I think it poses a new norm that is when sex is so free,
someone like Tally and Raelle and Scylla need to fight for their love in a different way
because love is not ...
I just love how you turned all that around, Eliot.
Because now love is not the norm or the goal.
So, if that's what you want, that's going to be abnormal.
And just how that causes an entirely new perspective.
It's a cool flip.
Well, I want to get to some fan questions too
because they sent in literally thousands.
Thank you, Freeform, for sifting.
We love the Switches.
We  love them so much.
They are it.
They are whole life.
I'm gonna try and not butcher these people's handles.
Would like to know, what were Eliot in the cast doing when
they first heard of the season two renewal and how did you celebrate?
Well, it was my birthday which was
the weirdest thing that anybody's ever done for me.
Freeform were like super, super damn cute and told me on my birthday.
And miraculously I was able to get all of these women
on the phone all over the globe.
I still don't know how that happened.
So, I was able to tell them the good news.
And just hug over the phone and be happy.
I did not celebrate too much 'cause life is so strange now.
But it was a magical day, for sure.
I popped a bottle.
Yeah. We all did.
We had a Zoom.
I got the call when I was napping.
And then I woke up from the nap and I saw Eliot called.
And I was like —
I couldn't get you on the phone quick enough.
I was the last to hear. I was doing a press interview.
My phone was just vibrating off the table.
And I'm like, "Okay. Something's happening."
And I see 'cause we have this group chat on Instagram—
It kind of ruined it for Jess, yeah.
And then I'm just seeing Ashley just all capitals like, "We're going for season two."
Cause I didn't know.
I didn't know that you ...
Taylor's like, "No, man. Jess still hasn't got her call."
I was like, "Dang it."
I was like, "I don't care. Oh my God."
And the interviewer was just like,  "Congratulations."
I'm like, "I gotta go. I'm expecting a call."
No.
She's so cute.
It was great.
And then we all Zoom called and we danced to the "Edge of Seventeen."
Yes, we danced.
We did a lot of dancing.
The next question comes from
What is the Mothertongue and how is it that it's a language only known by witches?
And how did it become their official language?
This is something I'm very, very curious about too.
I love this question so much.
I so appreciate it 'cause this is the kind of stuff that I'm obsessed with.
So, the idea that I'm playing with is that witches in prehistory were the first people
who used language.
Witches literally taught the rest of humanity how to speak.
And so Mothertongue—
Mothertongue.
Mothertongue is that language.
And, again in this alternate world,
it is the root human language that all of the other languages are built from.
And it's again from this idea that the first human speakers were witches
and they brought language to the world.
Which kind of ties into why their power is linguistic and based on the voice.
And if you can learn Mothertongue, it's really easy for you to learn other languages
like super, super quickly.
Cause it has that root language quality.
So, the stuff about the prehistory, we will get into.
But that's if we're lucky enough to go many seasons 'cause it's deep mythology.
When.
We will. When — When we do it.
Are we all going to learn Mothertongue?
Yes.
Yes.
Oh my God.
Yes.
[Lyne] I hope you do, so you'll learn how difficult it is. 
[Ashley] Is that like a lower college class?
Lyne, can you tell us how hard it is?
Guys, I really hope you get the chance to learn it
because it is so beautiful.
But it's not just about how you pronounce it.
I am working with Frédérik, our coach in Vancouver, who is an absolute sweetheart.
[Eliot] Frédérik.
He would do a sentence and then he was like, "So what did you just say?"
And I was like, "What?"
He's like, "What did you just say?"
And he would test you on what you were saying.
Not just how you were pronouncing.
And I was like, "Do you know how difficult this is?"
I mean, I'm European and I was blessed enough to have learned a lot of languages.
But this is by far one of the most difficult things I've tackled in my life.
But yet again, it's so harmonious.
And it's so beautiful and musical.
And it makes you use your mouth in ways that you've never done before.
And it's sexy and it's strange.
And it's everything. It's fantastic.
I want to give credit to our brilliant —
the man who created this language — David Peterson.
Who has done such incredible work in his career.
Among many things, the languages in Game of Thrones.
But it is truly beautiful.
And again, like Lynn was saying, so strange and yet familiar.
There's aspects of some African languages and some Asian languages and some root European languages.
He really created what I wanted which is sort of a root human language.
And it's hard.
I mean, your sessions with Frédérik are for five hours long for a few lines. Right?
Yes. Yes. Absolutely.
You should put us on an online course for this before we actually do it.
Good idea.
Yes.
Good idea.
Headstart.
Well, our next fan question comes from
And a topic we touched on a little earlier —
can you expand a little bit on who the Witchfather is
and a bit about his background?
Certainly.
So, the Witchfather, as the female witch soldiers have Alder,
the male witches — and there are are a few of them.
They're not a ton.
And we will see more of them in War College.
But the male witches sort of need their leader.
And he's not 300 years old like Lyne and they change every couple of years the Witchfather.
But he is basically the male leader of the American witch military.
Okay. I have a question.
Yes.
Are the male witches with us in War College?
You're gonna get some new ones.
You're gonna get some new male witches.
Cause again, War College
is the advanced training that we will be moving into.
And there are more men there than there were in season one.
So, that'll be fun.
Oh, Abigail.
[Eliot] Not a ton more. Not a ton more.
[Ashley] Abigail's gonna have some fun.
Abigail.
Abigail.
Is War College separate from Fort Salem?
It's not. Basically, you know those woods that we always see?
We're imagining it's on the other side of those woods.
And it's basically the advanced—
It's where you go when you do well in basic.
And at the end of the day, you guys did.
Woo.
I want to see Abigail with the teacher for Mothertongue who will be a great male.
A great male. Yeah.
That's my wish.
Amalia is just setting me up, right now.
Actually, Adil is going to help teach some Mothertongue because his people speak it.
Oh, he sure is.
[Demetria] Oh, he's amazing. 
[Eliot] He sure is.
Sure is.
Sure is.
Oh, 'cause his people that we rescued —
They speak it.
— are gonna also be ...
Yes.
Yeah.  They're at Fort Salem too. And Khalida who's so great.
Oh, Khalida shuts Alder down.
Khalida.
An ancient child.
Well, I think we have time for one more.
And this one I actually really love, but I'm gonna again butcher this handle.
From
Gonna go with that.
In the Motherland: Fort Salem universe,
there seems to be no racism, homophobia, etc. that we've seen, at least.
Was that a conscious decision and did you ever think about adding those elements into the show?
It was a conscious decision.
And one thing to remember is that really, what we think of as the world of the
show is a pocket world of this
base life of this subsect within American society that is the military.
So it is sort of a bubble.
And because female power in the American military
and in militaries around the world has been so visible in presence.
'Cause other nations have witch militaries too.
And have these incredibly powerful women fighting their wars.
Because that has happened,
I think the tide has shifted towards feminism in the world at large.
But it's still not a perfect place.
And there's still bigotry and racism.
One thing that's interesting about race and Motherland is that
within this pocket matriarchy that Alder created, certain families
like Abigail's family who are Black, were allowed to
establish a foothold where they could accrue wealth and power.
And establish these really powerful dynasties.
So certain aspects of white supremacy did not work in this bubble.
But outside in the world at large, it's a little closer to the world we know.
And in season two, we're going to see a lot of that.
We're going to see witch hatred. We're going to see what that looks like.
And it's pretty deep and dark.
We got a little bit.
Do you remember the scene with the little girl and Tally?  And the mom.
Yes.
And we shot two alternative takes.
Yep. Episode 2.
Yeah. And it was really interesting 'cause we wanted the final cut to have the say.
But it was how to establish how witches are perceived by mortals.
We're getting so much deeper into that. Oh my goodness.
It's gonna get really interesting.
'Cause I remember the first take was the mother kind of looking at Tally and scoffing at her.
And then grabbing her child in fear.
And kind of running away.
We chose the softer take.
Pardon?
Even in the bar with the pizza, you know?
Oh, yeah.
The guy — "It's you people that are doing this."
Yeah. Exactly.
It touched on it a little bit, but I think that touching on it
that way was smart because it took color out of it.
It's just about the root core of
anger and hatred without reason or understanding.
And I think doing this type of a show, not only with the women's empowerment
but also as you said, there's no gender.
There's no color.
In a time like this where the climate of our country, over here anyway,
is being so tested is a beautiful thing.
People get an opportunity again to see things from a different lens.
A different vantage point.
And get a better understanding of what is possible if we put down some of those shields
that we have up just for having up's sake.
So I love that he came up with that.
I think it's funny, Eliot, that you said these were conscious choices.
Because for me, initially anyways, it wasn't something that
I was completely conscious of at the time.
And especially when you see the LGBT representation in film, it's so rare.
And especially in protagonists.
It's all too rare.
And I was honestly having the impression that
the representation and the diversity in Hollywood was massively expanding.
And I think that mindset and people like me that think that way were part of the problem.
You know what I mean?
I'm like, oh. Yeah. They have a good pedestal.
They have a good platform now.
All these communities that feel so left out.
When the communities finally do get a nod, it's not to the extent of screen time that you see Raylla have.
Or whatever it be.
And I think that these are often token characters.
I think they're quickly killed off.
And that's for Black people. Asian people.
Gay people. Trans characters.
All of these characters that you see on screen.
The list goes on and on.
But you see them quickly killed off.
Or they're token characters. They're in the background.
And it's just to give a nod to them.
And I think that you really came in to change that dynamic.
Mm-hmm.
I think we all have you to thank for that.
And I think the audience would probably greatly say the same thing.
Aww. Thank you, Taylor.
That's so nice.
I agree with Taylor.
When I first read the script and I was like, "Wow. There's a Black lead."
It was just insane to me. And then two Black series regulars.
We see Taraji P. Henson. Octavia Spencer.
They've opened the doors for us.
But to have two Black series regulars in a show.
And they're constantly in the episodes.
I was in awe. I was just like, "This is so great."
I mean, we have a Black female president. How amazing is that?
The fact that Alder's right hand—
Anacostia and Alder. That relationship.
That deeply grounded love that they have for each other which then of course gets tested.
But to have her again as her right hand.
And considers her as a daughter as well.
And that's so beautiful. That all of that "normality" in our world is broken within Motherland.
And shows them how it can be and should be.
For all of this to come from a man who is a self-proclaimed all-knowing guy of female sexuality.
Has been Black his whole life.
For this whole mind craft to be constructed from somebody
who may not have ever had those experiences
lets us know that the changes are possible.
It lets us know that the world is opening up.
And I mean, for it to come across so brilliant.
You're literally lighting a torch that we're all going to pass our batons with.
And it's been just a really, really cool thing to watch you manifest the possibilities
so that others can start the manifestation as well.
Well, thank you, guys.
We love you, Eliot.
Love you too. You guys bring it to life.
You guys make it all happen.
So it's all you. I'm so grateful to each of you.
Well, that feels like a wonderful place to end it. I can't imagine a better ending to this panel.
Thank you guys all so much for signing on and being part of Comic-Con@Home.
Thank you so much, Lindsay.
Thanks for having us.
It was so awesome. Thank you very, very much.
And for anybody who wants to catch up or rewatch Motherland: Fort Salem
as we desperately await season two, it is now streaming on Hulu.
So go binge-watch.
Thanks, everybody.
Yeah, let's wave bye.
Bye.
Thank you.
