'Salem': Mary Comes Face-to-Face With Lucy Lawless's Countess
In television, as in life, good things come to those who wait. That’s why fans of WGN America’s supernatural period drama Salem should be extra excited for the May 3 installment, which finds Salem’s lead spellcaster Mary (Janet Montgomery) finally coming face-to-face with the second season’s big bad witch: Countess Marburg (Lucy Lawless). Yahoo TV has the exclusive first look at a confrontation that’s been five episodes in the making.
A descendent of a long line of German enchantresses, the Countess represents Old World witch royalty, which explains why she’s not especially impressed with Mary’s more modest way of life in the Massachusetts colony. “You can put a crown on a sow’s head and it doesn’t make it Queen,” she tells Mary haughtily. “A true queen is not made, she is born in the Earth’s womb and destined to rule forever.” But Mary isn’t taking that slight lying down. “You arrogant bitch,” she replies. “I know about you, and all your failures. You won’t touch a hair on my head.”
Related: The Real Characters Behind the Story of WGN’s ‘Salem’
If this the way their conversation begins, you can probably guess that the scene doesn’t end with a handshake or hug. And Salem co-creator, Brannon Braga, confirms that Mary and the Countess don’t part on good terms. “Let’s put it this way: It doesn’t end well,” he says with a chuckle. “It’s not the most successful summit meeting. These two rub each other the wrong way; they don’t have a chummy friendship. And it may not seem obvious in the clip, but Mary takes the battle to the Countess, which is really cool. But the Countess has a counter-move of her own that I think will shock the audience.”
Having waited five episodes to pit Montgomery and Lawless — who, along with Stuart Townsend, joined Salem in a recurring role this season — against each other, Braga says he’s thrilled with the result. “It’s a scene we’ve been building to all season, so we’re hoping the audience will find it as electrifying as we did. Janet and Lucy had real chemistry on set. It’s a long, intense scene, and it’s great.”
The good news is that Salem now has a bigger audience to electrify. The show’s ratings have steadily climbed during this sophomore season, an uptick that Braga credits to WGN America’s strong marketing campaign, the first season’s Netflix debut, and the addition of Lawless, a genre favorite with a built-in fan base going back to her days on Xena: Warrior Princess. Though he declines to say how many episodes the actress will appear in this season (or whether she’ll be back for a potential third season), he does want to make one thing clear — for now, “She ain’t going anywhere. Lucy’s great and it would be crazy not to have her in as many episodes as possible.” Quick, somebody cast a spell to make that happen.
Salem airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on WGN America.
