Brannon Braga is no stranger to uncharted territories.
After all, his credits as writer and executive producer include Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, Terra Nova and last year's relaunch of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. But what's he doing in the thick of the witch trials of colonial America?
With Adam Simon, Braga co-created Salem, a supernatural thriller that launched last year as the first original scripted series for WGN America. Some 3.4 million viewers tuned in for the debut, so it's not surprising that Salem is now unspooling its second season of fact mixed with frightening fiction.
And while a period series may seem like a departure from Braga's sci-fi past, he doesn't see it that way.
"I always considered science fiction to be a period piece, so in a way I was already comfortable doing period drama," says the three-time Emmy nominee. "Salem is fantastical and it's an alternate secret history, so I felt very comfortable in the world."
With the exception of adaptations of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, few films or television series have attempted to re-create America in the 1600s.
"It didn't occur to me until I got deeper into the show that. 'Hey, no one has done this,'" Braga says. "That really hit home when we started pre-production and realized we had to make everything. We couldn't rent a single costume. We had to make every single prop."
They even created the town of Salem itself — in Shreveport, Louisiana, where production designer Seth Reed (the producers' first hire) and his team painstakingly reproduced colonial New England on 30 acres of the Deep South.
"Salem was a tiny town wedged between the sea and the woods, both of which were feared by the Puritans," Braga says. "And we found a place that is wedged between the sea and the woods, and it looks amazing."
Overseen by season-two production designer John Zachary, the set has grown even larger, with the addition of a port and a neighborhood known as Knocker's Hole.
"If you were ever to go out there, it really is like stepping back in time," Braga enthuses.
Salem has also added to its cast — Lucy Lawless and Stuart Townsend now have recurring roles, and Joe Doyle and Oliver Bell have been added as regulars.
Behind the scenes, executive producers Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson (Smallville) and director-coexecutive producer Nick Copus (Arrow) have come on board for season two,
"Mary Sibley [the witch played by Janet Montgomery] is rising in power," Braga teases of the sophomore season. "Virtually every character on the show wants to take her out, including a new terrifying group of Germanic witches who have heard of her success.
"We are going to set a little bit of the show outside Salem this season to expand the world," he adds. "It will be everything people love about the show — and a lot more."
