Wigs, War And Witches! Shane West Talks New Wgn America Series Salem

Forget the magic fairy dust and enchanting spells, the witches of Salem are downright terrifying. The upcoming WGN America series, the network's first foray into scripted original programming, takes a fresh - and much darker -- look at the 1692 Salem Witch Trials. Shane West stars as war hero John Alden (historically, a survivor of the trials) who has returned home to find that his former love Mary (Janet Montgomery) has gone on to marry elderly town leader George Sibley (Michael Mulheren). [...] his love for Mary and his pride for Salem keeps him around long enough to fight back against some pretty twisted and evil creatures, not to mention some of the town's powerful humans. [...] getting the chance to play John Alden, a heroic and dark character, was a no-brainer. When I read the pilot, the horror element of the show came across on paper and in my own imagination, it was pretty dark. The horror element is expertly crafted into the story line, so it's not just there for sight gag or scares it all makes sense and purposes the story. The pilot is always harder and sometimes the audience doesn't even know what character to follow and invest in, but we had to introduce the town, the love story, what's happening with the witchcraft. In the first episode, John is just trying to figure things out, but Episode 2 starts immediately with reaction and aggression.