Posted in: SYFY, TV | Tagged: revival

Revival: Melanie Scrofano & Romy Weltman on Cypress Sibling Dynamic

Revival stars Melanie Scrofano and Romy Weltman spoke with us about SYFY's series adaptation, the Cypress sisters' dynamic, and much more.

When Melanie Scrofano (Wynonna Earp) and Romy Weltman (Ginny & Georgia) came across the SYFY series Revival, it became an opportunity to blend the supernatural, mystery, horror, and zombie genres with a twist. Based on the Tim Seeley and Mike Norton Image Comics of the same name, and developed for television by showrunners Luke Boyce and Aaron B Koontz, the series follows a rural Wisconsin town where the recently deceased suddenly rise from their graves and act just like they once were. When local Officer and single mother Dana Cypress (Scrofano) is unexpectedly thrown into the center of a brutal murder mystery of her own, she's left to make sense of the chaos amidst a town gripped by fear and confusion where everyone, alive or undead, is a suspect. Scrofano and Weltman (who plays Dana's sister, Martha "Em" Cypress) spoke with Bleeding Cool about the appeal of the series, how their existing sibling relationships help into Dana and Em's Cypress family dynamic, and Em's journaling.

Revival Stars Melanie Scrofano and Romy Weltman on Dana and Em Cypress Supernatural Story

Bleeding Cool: When you saw the premise of 'Revival,' what were your initial thoughts?

Weltman: My initial thoughts were "This is really awesome!" I found out about the project while auditioning for a different character, who was not originally in the comics, so I did a deep dive into the comics, trying to find Kay (Maia Jae Bastidas) I auditioned for Em's roommate first, and the deeper I got into the comics and the story's premise, the deeper I fell in love with it. The deeper I fell in love with Em, also. It was too fun not to love.

Scrofano: Well, funny story, so I got a call, asking, "Would you be interested? Have a look at this," and I looked at it and saw the cover. I was like, "Yes." "You're on the cover!" [Weltman laughs] I thought I was going to be…I was, like, "Yes!" and then I did more searching, and I loved the sister element, humor, gore, and telling stories about how we relate to different people. I also loved the way the story is told.

As you read your characters for Dana and Em, how did you develop your family dynamic? Was there any external inspiration aside from the pages you took from your previous roles or personal lives?

Scrofano: Well, I think Romy and I, tell me if I'm speaking for you, but we both have an age gap between our siblings. We know what it's like, I mean, I have a younger brother who's 10 years younger, and Romy has older siblings, and so we talked a lot about those dynamics. I remember that and talk about our freckles.

Weltman: Of course, lots of freckles. It was also easy in terms of meeting Mel and David [James Elliot]. Also, it set an easy tone for what we were doing and who we were working with, and I think Mel and I met briefly at a quick dinner, we walked, and I helped Mel find her car for a bit after, We were walking, chatting, bonding, and talking about how happy we were to be doing it together. I have an older brother who's nine years older, and then I have an older sister who's five years older. Similarly to how Em feels about Dana, I've always had this thing where I put my sister on a huge pedestal and always looked up to her so much. It was a matter of, "Is she kind of my mom sometimes? Is she kind to my sister?" I felt that was the same love Dana and Em had for each other.

What are Aaron [B Koontz] and Luke [Boyce] like as creatives, and how does the show, like 'Revival', differ from other types of genre shows you guys have been involved with?

Scrofano: To start, Aaron and Luke are passionate about the story and generous with their collaboration. There's a lot of "Let's talk about this if this doesn't feel right" and "change the line if it doesn't feel right". I don't think we were tied, Romy?

Weltman: Yeah, also in terms of…there's just so much going on in the story, obviously. There are so many story points, we were filming this all in three months, we're doing five episodes at a time, and they were also very generous with being kind when we had questions and story points, like "How and where is this coming in? Why is this coming in? They're very collaborative. The first thing they said to me was "This character is yours: and I've never heard that before in my life. In that moment, I went home, journaled, and I was like, "I'm working for the coolest people in the entire world." Story point, I'd say this does…

Scrofano: Sorry to interrupt, but you journaled? That's such an Em thing to do.

Weltman: I have my journal from filming that turned into Em's journal, and it's on my desk. There's nothing from me in there anymore. It all became about all the research of Em, all the relationships, all of that, but it's a very Em thing of me to do. In terms of and I don't want to speak for Mel, but I feel…often since I started acting, I've been more into horror and gritty genres. The last series I worked on was my first comedy series [in Prime Video's 'The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh'], so it was nice to go from comedy, something that was so different, back to where I started in this industry. I love both, I don't have a preference, but there's something homey about horror and the gritty world for me.

Scrofano: I think with this show, what separates it is that there is a supernatural element, but then there's also something, I'm a big fan of, which is that there's a true crime element, which is really fun.

Weltman: Also, there are so many funny characters, but Dana is SO funny! Like, there is comedy in there, too. I feel like I didn't get as much to play with in the first season, but.

Scrofano: You had "that" issue.

Weltman: There was other stuff going on. I mean with Kay I got some comedy in there.

Revival, which also stars Andy McQueen, Steven Ogg, CM Punk, Gia Sandhu, and Katharine King, premieres June 12th on Syfy and is available to stream on Peacock the following week.

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