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Omg are you smitten with Jessica Sutton now? Wait, y’all are watching Motherland right?
— BK Edwards (@bk_edwards) April 10, 2020
First it was Masali Baduza, who appeared in Noughts & Crosses, and now the mother city’s Jessica Sutton is starring as one of three lead actors in Motherland: Fort Salem.
Motherland: Fort Salem is executive-produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, who produced Succession. This supernatural drama, which has received a 96% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, is now available for viewing on internet TV service Showmax, and has already been renewed for a second season.
Billed as a young adult dystopian fantasy, Motherland follows three young women – Tally, Abigail and Raelle – from basic training to deployment as they learn to fight terrorist threats by using supernatural tactics.
Their story began more than 300 years before, when Sarah Alder made a deal to stop the killing of witches by pledging her people to the service and defence of the US for future generations. The Salem witch trials ended and the country gained a new weapon – a powerful army of witches.
Switches, I have never experienced anything like the support you’ve shown us and I doubt there’s a feeling that beats this kind of love reaction. cheers to the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. my greatest love and fierce gratitude #MotherlandFortSalem #MFSFinale pic.twitter.com/fruOx5e9dO
— Jessica Sutton (@JessLauraSutton) May 21, 2020
Brought together in one unit, the three young women come from very different backgrounds, but what they have in common is that they are all witches who have been born and raised for battle, whether they like it or not.
Sutton, who was in The Kissing Booth and also stars in the upcoming Showmax original Rogue, opposite Megan Fox, plays Tally Craven, the innocent of the group.
Tally, 18, sees the army as her calling and an opportunity to save lives. When her conscription papers arrive she immediately embraces her new role.
“This is the pinnacle moment,” Jessica says. “For Tally, she’s already decided that this is what she’s going to do. She’s going to conscribe against her mother’s wishes.”
Sutton stars opposite Taylor Hickson, who played Petra, aka Goth Girl, in Deadly Class, and Meghan Orlovsky in Deadpool. Hickson plays Raelle who, like Tally, has been anticipating her enrollment, but sees it as a suicide mission and an injustice.
Newcomer Ashley Nicole Williams plays the third woman, Abigail, for whom the army is a matter of honour and destiny.
While there is action, brutal basics training, unit pressures and barracks shenanigans, Motherland: Fort Salem also has bucketloads of magic – fierce, female magic.
“It’s no longer the boys fighting on the frontlines, but the girls,” Sutton says.
“We’re not the cackling old crones around the cauldron. We are the protectors. We are the warriors.
“We have these immense powers.”
Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/YeHBVzCwsMY and watch Motherland: Fort Salem on Showmax: https://www.showmax.com/eng/tvseries/mqrluhv6-motherlandfort-salem
For a free trial, visit www.showmax.com.
