In his world, witches ended their persecution
300 years ago by cutting a deal with the
fledgling U.S. government — in exchange for
fighting for their country, witches would no
longer be burned at the stake.
“As a queer person, witches have always been
a symbol of otherness for me,” he said. And it
was very appealing for me to create a world
where these others who had previously been
persecuted were the ones who were dutiful
and patriotic.”
It’s an ambitious step from Laurence, whose
last project was “Claws,” a crime dramedy
set in a Florida nail salon. He’s always loved
speculative fiction and is a big fan of both sci-
fi writer Octavia E. Butler and “The Handmaid’s
Tale” creator Margaret Atwood.
“I’d always love that stuff, but I’d never tried it. I’d
primarily written in the kind of darkly comedic
world,” he said. “So this was just sort of letting go
in my internal nerd river of world-building and
just having so much fun.”
“ Motherland: Fort Salem ” follows three young
women from basic training in combat magic
to deployment on the front lines. It stars
Taylor Hickson, Jessica Sutton and Ashley
Nicole Williams.
The three young witches learn to work together
to hone their raw magic, which includes control
over weather and using their voices as a shield
or to pierce through metal.
“I don’t want this to become another teen show,”
Laurence said. “I don’t want it to be a show
about attractive young people with powers. It’s
so much deeper than that.”