Exclusive Video Interview: Tim Rozon Talks Season 4 of Wynonna Earp

Tim RozonTonight, Syfy premieres the first part of the mid-season finale of Wynonna Earp. In “Holy War Part One” we learn more about why the Clantons have a deep-seated hatred for the Earps and how Doc was involved. Meanwhile, Nicole (Katherine Barrell) deals with repercussions from her deal with Mam (Paula Boudreau).

Recently, Tim Rozon, who stars as Doc Holliday on the series talked to Jamie Ruby of SciFi Vision in an exclusive interview about what it’s like being directed by Melanie Scrofano, what’s to come on Wynonna Earp, including some teases about Doc’s relationship with Wynonna, how his character needs to let go of the past, and more.



Be sure to check out the transcript following the video.




Zoom Call
Wynonna Earp
Tim Rozon

July 19, 2020
4:30 p.m. ET


***Some unrelated content from the video was removed from the transcript***

Tim Rozon
SCIFI VISION:  First, I want to talk about, I think it's in the first of the last two episodes, but we get to hear some more about the real Doc Holliday and Wyatt [Earp] and all that. Obviously, the show has some parts taken from reality, but most of it’s made up, but when they add kind of that level to it of more from history, does that affect your performance? And do you think we'll continue to see more of that?

TIM ROZON:  Yeah, I mean, that's the coolest thing about this season, is that we get to find out a lot about Doc’s past and the history. Then the coolest thing is that we realized that for Doc to move forward, he needs to let go of the past, and I don't think he ever did up until this point, up until season four, and there've been some moments…
 
...And I think Doc needs to let go of the past to be able to ever have a future, with Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) or just for himself for his own peace. I think he's been holding on to that past for too long. So, now we're starting to learn about the past. Doc's learning some things maybe that are hurtful to hear, and I think now he's preparing to kind of let go of all that stuff.
 
Right.
 
And this is kind of a little related, I guess, to what you're saying, but at least so far this season, being a vampire hasn't necessarily hindered too much what’s been going on, and he doesn't seem too bothered by it. But do you think that maybe that could become a liability later? Because I wonder, especially with Black Badge coming back - now granted, right now, they're not so competent - but if more people come back, do you think it could cause a problem later? Obviously, you can't tell me what really happens even if you know, but just kind of your own predictions?
 

Yeah. I think you're definitely right. We haven't talked about it too much so far in the first couple episodes, but you're also not wrong. Emily Andras is very smart. She's a very smart woman, and the rest of the writers are very smart people. They have not forgotten Doc Holliday is a vampire at all just because we haven't heard about it recently. To be continued. Let's just say that.
 
Speaking of that, I did mean to ask, because I don't even know, how far are you? Have you guys started filming the second half of the season, or is it done?

Yeah. We have about three weeks left, so we're about to start the final block next week, which is absolutely craziness to think [of]. It's been two months already...Filming amid COVID definitely has its challenges, and it's kind of crazy, because the craziest part, for me, is on Wynonna Earp we've had so many just insane storylines. You know, we could believe this, and one hundred and fifty years in the well, and vampires and all this stuff, but we've never even dealt with a pandemic, because that's too crazy. Wynonna Earp and the gang haven't dealt with that, because that would be too nuts, but then in the real world, that's what we're kind of dealing with.

Things are definitely different.
 

But still, I'm happy to be back and filming. It's been challenging, but I’m also happy and lucky to be working at this time and to be able to get to tell this the rest of this story.

I know you can't really tell me specifics, but maybe some little teases. Going forward are we going to get to see more Wynonna/Doc romance anytime soon? I know right now the story is focused on her sister and everything, but I’d like to see some more of that as well.

Tim Rozon[laughs] Listen, it's not an easy love story for both of them. Wynonna Earp has the burden of being the hero. Doc isn't burdened with that. He could actually just take off if he wanted to.
 
Yeah.

Maybe he will. Maybe he won't. Who knows?

I hope not.

Wynonna, she's got the burden of of being the hero. So, I think for Doc, he’s been trying to deal with his past, and now he wants to move on to the future, and the future for him is Wynonna. And I think it's a future that she just, unfortunately, doesn't have the luxury of living with him. He wants to just settle down and stop fighting and raise a family, and she can't stop fighting. She has to fight; there's no one else who can fight. It's Wynonna’s fight; it’s not Doc’s fight.

So yeah, it's kind of tragic, but just because they're not kissing or happy, there's a love story there. There's always a love story. The love story is always there. It's not the love story [laughs] that we want. I want what you want, trust me, but it's not so easy for them to get there and be able to just be in love.

That was kind of one of my questions, and granted, this is about the end of the mid-season, but let's just say in the mid-season finale, Wynonna does something that maybe Doc doesn't agree with. How hard do you think that that's going to be as a problem between them? Can they overcome that? Is it going to take a lot of work? Any hints about that?
 

I mean, I don't know. One of my favorite qualities about Doc is he's pretty understanding of other people making mistakes, because he's made so many himself. It's one of my favorite things about him. He doesn't judge too many other people, [laughs] because, he knows he's been let off the hook a couple of times.

But I think the main thing for this year is for Doc being able to let go of the past for him to be able to have a future, and I think also the same for Wynonna. We have to be able to let go.
 
Right.

So, do you have a funniest moment from filming this season that you can think of?
 
Oh, yeah. I mean, Melanie's Scrofano’s episode that she directed was just incredible for so many reasons, number one, because I was just so damn proud of Mel. She was amazing.

But myself, Katherine Barrell, and Dominique [Provost-Chalkley] [were] chasing Greg Lawson as the monster character around with a water gun, a lasso, and a T-shirt gun, with Melanie directing us hogtied from the floor fifty yards away screaming at us direction. I was looking at frickin Katherine slipping on the ice and Dominque and trying not to laugh, and Greg's butt naked. It was magical. It was also like if I could sum up the whole experience of Wynonna Earp in one scene, that's it.

[laughs] And it shows how good of friends they are. I love how she’s just kind of watching them be crazy.
 

Yeah, it was awesome.
 
So, you made me wonder, other than the funny part, was she a harsh director? Was she an easy director? [laughs] Just to put you on the spot.
 

Tim RozonWell, she's great. For me, she's incredible, because selfishly I'm such a fan of Melanie Scrofano as an actor. I think she's one of the best actors working today. I just think she's incredible, and to get to be in scenes with her is a real honor. She's really good. She's that good.
 
So, [to get] my direction from someone that I look up to as an actor, hell yeah. She gave great notes. She's an actor's actor. She's an actor's director is what they say too, because she understands the scene. She helps me see things.

I also really like direction. I think some people don't, but I do. I need a general; I should have been in the army. I always say that. I would have been a good soldier. “What do you need me to do?” “Yes, I'll go do that,” and I'll check off a list and come back and say, “What else do you need?” So, I need Mel. She's like my general. And it was great to have her be like, “Do this.” And I'm like, “Oh, yeah. Oh, hell yeah.” That's great.
 
And then with the crew, I saw the same thing. I don't know that side; I've been doing this a long time, but I've never wanted to be a director. I know some lenses, and I know a fifty means they're pretty close, but I don't know all that technical jargon. She knew all that stuff. Mel knew everything, plus she knew what she wanted.

And the crew have the utmost respect for her already, so that spilled over to her being a director, because everybody knows nobody knows Wynonna better than Mel. And I mean, not just the character Wynonna, Wynonna Earp, the show. Mel knows it. She's in and out.

So, yeah, the crew was just amazing, and they were all there for her. She was the boss, and she was incredible; she was great. That's what you want from a director, someone who knows what they want. They know how they want it and how to get it, and she checked off all three of those boxes. Yeah, give me more Melanie Scrofano.
 
Speaking of working with her a lot, is there someone maybe you haven't gotten as many scenes with recently that you'd like to the second half get to work with more?

Yes, his name is Varun Saranga. [laughs] He’s my friend; he plays Jeremy. Varun and I are such good friends off camera that we're always like, “We need more Doc and Jeremy stuff,” just because we like to play.
 
There’s actually been a little bit of - I don't know how to say it, like when Dolls (Shamier Anderson) left, there was such a great dynamic for Doc to have someone like Dolls to compete against and to fight for Wynonna. It was such a great dynamic. So, I've lost a little something in that sense. It gave me more stuff with Mel, which has been incredible in that sense, but there has been something lacking on the other end of who else Doc kind of partners up with.

So, Jeremy and I were able to find this little mini love thing like they love each other as friends. Well, you know -
 
[Jeremy] has a crush on him, yeah. [laughs]

Exactly. But there's a mutual admiration and respect for each other. So, it's fun to get to play the Jeremy/Doc thing too, and we don't get to do it as much. It’s just because there's a lot going on this season, I don't know if you noticed.

Yeah. [laughs]
 

We hit the gas pedal going and we don't stop. Some stuff is coming up that I'm very excited about; Varun and I are very excited about.

Cool. Yeah, you two are always a lot of fun together.
 

Let me see if I have a fan question here. Somebody wanted to know, what do you think is Doc's weak spot, his Achilles heel?
 
I think I know what you're probably going to say, but I'll ask you anyway.

Well, I mean, other than his love for Wynonna Earp? [laughs]

[laughs] That’s what I was going to say you would probably say.

Yeah, I think he's working on it. Like I said, I think before he held on to the past. Then I would have said that was his Achilles heel, but he's working on that now.

Tim RozonSo, it's interesting. It's great to be able to play a character that has so much growth, that had to go through so much. A lot of people are like, “Doc did this and Doc did that” but we all do things. Everybody does things, and he's learning from it, and that's, for me, the most important, because a lot of people do some bad things sometimes, and they don't learn, or they don't know, but he does. So, yeah. But come on, Wynonna’s his weakness.

[laughs] All right.

And somebody else wanted you to talk about you working with...Noam Jenkins who plays Amon?

Yeah, it was great. Noam’s a beautiful guy. He’s super fun and an incredible actor. It’s a testament to a guy like that to come on to a show, because I have known [the show] for four years. I know the lore and the history and all this stuff. If you're an actor who never watched Wynonna Earp - he'd never seen the show - you know, to try and understand this giant world, and you're a demon boss...and he just jumped right in. So, I love an actor like that.

You know, people are like “Oh my gosh, you guys are flirting so much. What's going on there?” Look, I just learn my lines. I don't picture a way I'm going to play any scene, and I just go with what's there on the day. And Nome is a very giving actor. I mean, he was playing it sexy, so Doc can be sexy too.
 
So, that's kind of where we're at.
 
[laughs] So, other than starting filming, what have you been doing during the pandemic? Everything has been so weird, I guess is the best description.

I've almost pretty much just stayed mostly self-quarantined. Even though some things have opened up here, I think I have a great responsibility to keep the risk low. There're a lot of people depending on us finishing the season; there're a lot of crew, depending on the jobs. It's not just about me wanting to go. So, I've been very highly conscious of that.

And luckily, for me, I'm a gamer.
 
[laughs] So, you have a lot to do.

Yeah, staying at home isn't hard for me to do at all.

So, yeah, I've been I've been staying home mostly. I'm alone here. I had to leave my family behind, which was especially hard this year. I had a son this year.
 
Wow, congrats.
 

Thanks. Leaving them behind has been more difficult than anything.

So, is there anything that you're allowed to tease about the second half of the season?

Everything's going to be answered. I don't know if they're going to be the answers people want, but you have to pay attention to all these episodes. But the Earpers are very smart. It’s almost like I'm saying this to people who aren't Earpers, because Earpers already understand the story. They’re dissecting everything anyway. Even if we're saying a blowjob joke or something, trust me, there's something to it.

[laughs]

There’s going to be a reason later why; there's always something there. So, everything we're learning about or trying to understand, the answers are coming.

All right.

I'm not sure how much time we have left. Maybe I can ask one more quick one. [laughs] I don't know that you can answer this, but somebody wants to know if we’re ever going to find out how Doc got out of the barn after Wynonna trapped him with a rope soaked in holy water.

Yeah, this is a very interesting question, because I know the answer.
 
Oh, you do? Or you can't tell?
 

Tim RozonWe filmed it.

Oh, you did?
 

Then it didn't make the movie.

Right, right.

So, I imagine I can say who it was at this point, because I don't think it changes anything.

Nedley (Lawson) came back. Nedley came by and saved me.

Oh, that’s cool.
 
It was cool. It’s another hero Nedley moment, and Doc and Nedley never have any.

Listen, you have got fifty-two minutes to make the show, and something always gets cut. So, unfortunately that's what happened, but yeah, that's who saved me then. Nedley actually saved Doc.

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