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'Witches Of East End' Season 2: Everything You Need To Know

'Witches Of East End': You Ready For A Darker Season 2?
Lifetime

The tagline for the second season of "Witches Of East End" is "Darkness Is Rising," and boy, is it ever. The opening scene, before the credits have even rolled, is a little spookier (or maybe I just find cats creeping in the forest scary). And don't even get me started on the first time we see Joanna (Julia Ormond) with Victor (recurring cast member Joel Gretsch). It's a heartbreaking, cringeworthy moment.

Having visited the Vancouver set of the hit Lifetime series twice in less than a year, I can attest that even the sets have changed quite a bit. Well, from far away, it seems like the same beautiful house that looks like one big Pinterest board, the same cool bar that Freya (Jenna Dewan Tatum) works at which looks like it could be part of any pub crawl, and the same gorgeous library (no, really, show me a library that looks as cool as the one in East End) where Ingrid (Rachel Boston) works, complete with its cathedral ceiling, perilous spiral staircase and fantastically old-school card catalogue (shut up, young people who don't know what that is). But upon further examination, and look past the funky artwork, well-worn rugs, ornate furniture and cool clutter, there are tiny-yet-significant differences.

"It's a little darker, it's more cinematic," says executive producer Maggie Friedman. "Everything is just more ambient light; now it feels so much more moody. It just gives the scenes a whole other feel of darkness."

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The Ladies Of 'The Witches Of East End'

'The Witches Of East End'

The ceilings of the home are now closed up, elaborately detailed with winding flowers and trees coming in through the windows. It's exactly what you would envision for four powerful, beautiful witches. It's the ideal world for these women to inhabit, both on-screen and off, as all the actors were so friendly and open and fun, both at a relaxed dinner in a fancy-schmancy downtown restaurant prior to the set visit, and also the following day as we chatted in the Beauchamps' creepy-yet-cozy dining room.

But the darkness isn't all about magic and sets and, dark, camera, action. The story itself is taking a more sombre tone. Yes, there are still light, funny moments sprinkled in here and there, but with Freya's heartbreak over losing the love of her life, Killian (Daniel di Tomasso), after dumping his brother, Dash (Eric Winter), and Ingrid not knowing how her role as The Key -- the one person who can open the portal to Asgard -- will play out, and their mom at death's door, sunshine and rainbows don't really belong in this season.

"When you see how dark and how painful a past journey had been and how it had ended, to understand why someone would be more conscious to keep herself in a library and keep herself quiet, it gave her a deeper sense, an understanding of what the dark side can do," says Boston of her character. "That strength, you're really going to see in the second season because she has been through so much. I think she's just built up such an understanding of who she is and what she stands for."

Boston adds: "She's starting to move into a new chapter. That's an interesting quest that she goes on, to figure out the depth of her strength."

Hell, even Wendy (Mädchen Amick) is becoming a little more no-nonsense about things, so you know things are getting dark up in East End. It probably doesn't help that she's on her last life and her sister is dying, which means she isn't as flippant as she once was.

"Wendy's being more responsible in Season 2," says Amick. "She has to take things a little more seriously since it's her last life. Things get real."

Thankfully, the character still adds that dose of comedy the show needs to keep things balanced and not falling into the trappings of a depressing, grim supernatural show.

"Wendy is really embracing that parental role as a new thing and she's really taking responsibility for the girls, keeping the family together -- but not losing fun," adds Amick before reassuring us. "Even though there's some heavy stuff happening, I'm always trying to find some kooky, crazy way to do it. She has to stay the fun aunt."

As for Freya, her world has seemingly crashed around her. She went from two guys pining for her to none, though that tends to happen when a woman dumps one man the day before their wedding for the man's brother. The difference in Season 2 is that now Freya knows who she is meant to be with, but not knowing where Killian is and not knowing how bad Dash is going to get definitely turns her life upside down (and around and around).

"Most of [my challenges] involve finding [Dash] and locating him," explains Dewan Tatum. "She starts off the season very confused, very heartbroken. She figured it out in the last hour, which was too late."

Oh, the men. The biggest change in Season 2 is that it's not just about the women wielding powers; the boys are now in the magic game too.

"It's going to be very, very interesting to explore that, it gives Killian a whole new dynamic," says di Tomasso. "It's going to be a season of discovery for Killian, and Dash, for that matter. We're coming into our new selves, a rebirth."

The difference between the brothers is that while Killian is on his own island (literally), Gilligan has nothing on Killian, and has these new powers that he doesn't know what to make of. Dash is fully aware that something is up. He just has no idea how to control it.

"There is a sense of fear of not knowing what to do with these powers, where they came from, why and trying to justify it all," explains Winter. "I don't think it's an easy thing for him. It's definitely a battle."

As far as good and evil, the brothers' identities might not be so cut and dry.

"In this world of magic and this fantastical reality that the writers have done such a good job in creating, anything is possible," hints di Tomasso. "As far as who's good, who's bad, I think that could still be up for debate. There's room for all sorts of things. I hope there's duality. I like when there's no clear definition of good and bad, you just are."

Unlike Freya and Ingrid, who had their mom and Wendy to help them hone their witchy ways, Dash and Killian have no one but themselves. Which can't be good, right?

"It can get pretty frightening, and you'll see them have to grapple with understanding what's happening to them and being liabilities," affirms di Tomasso. "If you don't know how to control this great power, you can do a lot of damage unintentionally -- and especially if you're not in a healthy place emotionally or psychologically, which both these guys are dealing with."

With new characters on the horizon -- James Marsters ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") as Tarkoff, an old friend of Joanna's, and Bianca Lawson ("Teen Wolf") as mysterious Eva, who has ties to Killian (sorry, Frillian shippers) -- it would seem like the cast is full, but someone from Asgard slipped into our world when the portal opened and he turns out to be Frederick (Christian Cooke), who just so happens to be Joanna's son (and, thus, Freya and Ingrid's brother and Wendy's nephew).

"Frederick coming back is a huge deal because that's clearly something that, in Season 1, was something very much that tormented her, that she had to leave him behind," says Ormond.

Dewan Tatum divulges that Freya, in particular, has "a very strong connection with Frederick ... there's a definite instanteous connection." The actress does admit that Frederick is "a bit of an enigma. He seems so perfect and he seems so great but then there's another side of him that every now and then flashes out and we think, wait a minute, is he who he says he is?"

While Ingrid is a little more guarded when it comes to her brother coming to town ("I don't know him so I'm just trying to figure out how someone that I've never met fits into our family."), Wendy is much less welcoming than everyone else. "There's a lot of bad blood between Wendy and Frederick in the past," reveals Amick. "So we're gonna have to navigate what that means this season."

So we have darkness and magic, the men and their recently bestowed powers and new people floating around East End, but the show's core still is, and always will be, the four women. Sisters, daughters, mother, aunt, Joanna, Wendy, Ingrid and Freya remain as "Witches of East End"s heart and soul. I mean, what other show on the air right now has female leads in a family-driven action series?

Friedman, who finds the lack of female-led shows "depressing," feels like she has a responsibility because there's a lot out there.

"The women are sexy and empowered and they're not apologetic about who they are," raves the executive producer. "We get our characters into dangerous situations, but we never want them to feel like they're damsels in distress who need someone to come and rescue them. They're the superheroes on the show and they're the ones who rescue themselves and they take care of each other in a really cool way."

Amick chimes in: "And a couple of them over 40, thank you very much, and being beautiful and strong and sexy and everything that you hope for. The whole concept behind witches was that women were speaking up for themselves and fighting for their rights, and the whole concept of witchcraft came into play to hold down women and women's empowerment. So now we're in a situation where witches are sexy and hot and cool and strong and the symbol for strong women. We're turning that concept of witchcraft that was created to hold us down and now it's actually empowering our stories."

Ormond, for one, wants changes implemented for the way the media portrays females.

"I think it's very important that people look at what that's doing and where does that go and how does it impact women and girls," declares Ormond. "When girls and women become identified or defined by what they look like, versus who they are and what they do, then we've gone horribly wrong.

"This is not a serious topical show but people have related to the fact that it's four women," adds the actress and single mom. "It's not like that's a new thing, either, but at the moment it seems to be hitting a note in terms of guys playing the supporting roles and being more peripheral to the storyline."

It's a witch's world. We just happen to be living in it.

"Witches of East End" premieres Sunday, July 6 at 9 p.m. ET on Lifetime Canada.

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