Kate Drummond – Wynonna Earp

By starrymag | June 30, 2017

By: Lisa Steinberg

 

Q) With your role being expanded in Season Two of “Wynonna Earp,” will we see Lucado become more involved through the contract and Black Bladge?

 

A) It has been amazing to have Lucado play a bigger part this season. I’ve loved it. Lucado’s interactions in the first season were mainly with Dolls (Shamier Anderson) and then in the season finale with Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) but in the second season, Lucado gets to play with everyone, and she has to navigate all these new relationships. In first season, we really got the sense that Agent Lucado was the top dog and the one everyone answers to, but this season, we learn that she is not and there is this wee fall from grace that starts to reveal her more vulnerable side. It’s quite transparent that she is losing her footing.

 

When Wynonna and the gang is forced by Moodie (Kevin Hanchard) to join BBD and sign the contract in blood, I feel like it’s the first time we see a little shift in Lucado. Yes, she is extremely pissed off that they are joining her team, a position she’s worked so hard to achieve, but Lucado also understands this serious hold that Black Badge has on people.  She needs them now, as much as they need Black Badge. It’s an interesting new dynamic.

 

Lucado will always butt heads with Wynonna. Actually it seems she butts head with everyone, but with good reason. She’s been hurt and feels like there is a need for some redemption. That is something that I love about Lucado. She’s obviously lived a very hard, long, driven life and she lost someone whom she loved so dearly. I think for Lucado feels like the only way to heal her heart and find peace with that is to make people pay. I think she also feels like success in BBD is the only way to validate herself.

Q) How was Lucado originally written and what have you brought to her and out in her?

A) Right from the beginning, Lucado was written as a very strong, highly intelligent woman, a real force to be reckoned with and someone who could and would easily stand up to Dolls [Shamier Anderson]. In Season Two, we learn more about why she is how she is. We delve a little deeper and we learn that she has lost so much in her life, and that success in BBD and revenge is really all she has. For me as an actor, roles like this allow me to reflect on my own life, when I’ve been fighting for something so hard that I feel like it’s the answer to everything. Then I fuse my personal experience with my character. I think that’s how you get the most believable characters on screen. Emily [Andras] and the writing team are obviously extremely talented, and their writing and character development is so tight that they have basically laid it out for us what motivations our characters have. They have welcomed conversation about our characters and that is such a gift for an actor.

 

Q) Lucado seems to be asserting her dominance while really wanting to be a part of “the cool group.”

A) Absolutely I think this is the case, but it’s like a deep yearning to be part of something. Anything. Deep in her heart. It’s an interesting human paradox of what is on the outside is not always what is truthful on the inside. Wynonna and her gang are super close and Lucado is like this stick in the mud, standing on the outside, standing perfectly postured on the outside. I think that the minute that something cracks, the minute something is out of place or the minute there is a wrinkle for her, she’ll lose her mind. When I was prepping Lucado, I’d keep the thoughts of,  “Keep it together. Don’t let people see the hurt.” and I would operate from that place.

 

Q) Kat Barrell asked what does Lucado do to relax and why isn’t she doing it?

A) [laughs] Kat is so funny. Honest to God, I feel like Lucado closes the blinds, puts in her old VHS copy of Stealing Home and bawls her eyes out. Then, she falls asleep, wakes up, reviews her plans for the day, and goes to work. [laughs] I feel like if she ever breaks or lets her guard down, it’s at three in the morning. I also am pretty sure that Lucado has one heck of an herb garden. I just have a feeling. [laughs]

 

Q) Do you think if she ever let go of the hurt over her husband she could lead a “normal” life?

A) That’s a really good question. I think her identity has become this wound. This is the woman she is now. She needs to feel that all the wrongs are righted. It’s almost like success and power and dominance are the only ways for her to feel anything. I would often think about what Lucado’s relationship was like when she was married and if she was as cold and heartless and as seemingly unemotional as she is now. They always say the amount of grief that you have is proportional to the amount of love that you have. I think there was just such a love with her husband that it is why she went to such a dark place afterwards. She honestly believes there is nothing left.  I don’t know that the hole in her heart could ever be filled.  That’s sad.

 

Q) How does it feel to be a part of the Earper fandom?

A) I’ve never experienced a group of people who have come together so quickly and so closely as the Earper community. I hazard to say that in my life, as actor, I will probably never experience anything like it again! It’s a testament to how universal the foundational messages of this show are, how inclusive they are. There are now people in Australia who are now best friends with people in Germany who are now best friends with people in the states who are now having sleepovers at their houses for Comic Con conventions and writing letters to one another and sending gifts and reaching out. Like I said in another interview, I look at it as not a fandom, but as a “famdom” because it is literally like a beautiful family of people who have come together. Our individuality is really the most beautiful part of being a human being. It seems like we rarely have an opportunity to share that and express that…celebrate it. I feel like this show has opened the door to this forum for people to say, “I relate. I feel different. Oh, we’re the same.” I’m not sure if the creators of the show saw it coming, but what a beautiful thing that is happening. Whether you are in front of the camera or behind the camera, everyone on the show carries this really beautiful openness and it makes you so proud to be a part of it, to help make it the best it can be.

 

Q) You’re also a writer. How does your work on series influence your writing?

A) It really is an honor to be an artist, but I also feel it’s a responsibility in a way. I take my role as an actor and a writer very seriously. Film and television actors have impacted me throughout my whole life and now I feel like I’m in a position to potentially pay it forward, maybe impact others through stories I am telling. Each time I am on set, I get more and more inspired by other actors, writers, directors. I’m a sponge really. My goal is to finish my scripts and bring at least one of them to camera in the next year or so. It’s a very exciting time!

 

Q) How has Syfy really catapulted and pushed the engagement with their viewers through the inclusivity of their show?

A) Syfy knows its audience! I feel Syfy doesn’t shy away from the edgier shows, the shows that showcase strong female characters as well and the shows they stand behind and promote to the extreme, are amazing. They have been super supportive with “Wynonna Earp,” and I’m sure it was pretty hard for them to ignore the fandom that is the #Earpers. It’s really cool that when you come across a network that listens and hears what the audience wants and is really connecting to. We’re all, obviosuly, super grateful for their support.

 

Q) What do you hope viewers take away from this season on “Wynonna Earp?”

A) That this show matters and that the viewers and fans are hugely important in helping to make the show as special as it is. Wynonna Earp makes a difference, not only in terms of it being great entertainment, but in its impact on people on a more personal level. Oh, also, Scrofano deserves an Oscar and there needs to be at least 10 more seasons so keep #noChill-ing.