The creator of Wynonna Earp thanked the fans at New York Comic-Con this weekend. It’s been a long battle to get season four of the hit show into production, and the creator of the show Emily Andras knows she has the fans to thank.
In February 2019, Hollywood Reporter reported that production on the fourth season, which was renewed in July of 2018, was currently postponed. While Wynonna Earp airs on SyFy, the network does not own the rights or pay for production cost. IDW is responsible for all production costs and delivering the show to Syfy. Funding seemed to be an issue for the publishing company, which caused them to halt production on the show. Deadline reported that “IDW Entertainment has indicated that it is experiencing financial difficulties, running a deficit, and cannot proceed with production on a fourth season at this time.”
Once fans, self-named Earpers, caught wind of the production troubles they took to Twitter. Social media, Twitter in particular, has become a place for fans to connect and bond about their shared interests. Fans have also used social media as a weapon to fight for shows when they’re on the cusp of cancelation- or worse, they’ve already been canceled. Successful fan run campaigns include Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Expanse, and Arrested Development. Fans of the Netflix show Sense8 went as far as sending one flip flop to the CEO of Netflix with the message, “Sense8 needs closure like Lito needs his flip-flop.” While the show wasn’t renewed, the creators were allowed to wrap up the show in a two-hour movie finale.
Earpers noted the success of big gestures and quickly began to rally. Fans started to hold signs that read #SaveWynonna during live takes from NBC’s Today. In early March, Earpers paid for a billboard in Time Square to bring the fight for Wynonna Earp to the next level.
After months of campaigning, fans were finally able to breath easy when Andras announced that season four of the show would be premiering in the summer of 2020.
During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Andras says, “The fact that they rallied, even before they knew what they were rallying for…it was incredible. It feels once in a lifetime to have a fanbase like this.”
Readers can catch up on seasons 1-3 of Wynonna Earp on Netflix.