Women didn’t have much power in 17th century America, but females hold all of it in WGN America’s witchy new show, “Salem.”
Janet Montgomery plays Mary Sibley, a wealthy housewife in 1690s Salem, Mass. who has a lot more agency than her fellow townspeople realize: She’s an ultra-powerful witch.
“It’s liberating” to play a woman with so much power, Montgomery tells Zap2it on a March visit to the show’s Louisiana set. “Women were so repressed in this period. They had no voices in society. There’s some part of it where you feel like you’re giving them a voice in some way.”
Montgomery says there are a lot of elements she loves about the show, which fuses horror, supernatural and historical elements. “I love the time period, but I also love the fantastical nature of it and the feminine qualities of it,” she says.
Adds costar Shane West, who plays Mary’s long lost love John Alden, “I like a lot of the scares. It’s fun to see what they’re thinking of for each episode, to keep that part of the show going as well. The sets are fantastic.”
“Salem” premieres Sunday, April 20 at 10 p.m./9 p.m. Central on WGN America.