SXSW Film has kicked off with a bang with the “Witches Playground” event, celebrating the upcoming release of the second season of WGN America’s flagship show Salem.
The party, held in the notoriously haunted Speakeasy on the Avenue venue in Austin on Friday the 13th, served as the opening event for the festival. The 1,300 guests at the event were entertained with fortune tellers, aerial acrobatics, and stunning views over downtown Austin, and were treated with a witch-themed menu and interactive photo booth.
Salem, which revolves around the Salem witch trials in 17th century America, has been a success for WGN, a new network that is seeking to expand in the already-competitive US television industry. Salem stars Janet Montgomery, Shane West and new cast member Lucy Lawless attended a panel at SXSW the next day, and teased fans about what’s to come in the show’s second season. “We fell in love with these characters and the actors playing them last year so it was really a lot of fun this year to just continue to tell the story of Salem”, said the show’s executive producer, Adam Simon, while fellow executive producer Brannon Braga teased that Lawless’ character will be the show’s new villain. Salem kicks off again in the US on Sunday, 5 April.
This year marks WGN America’s first-ever presence at SXSW, as the network aggressively expands to become a destination for high-quality original programming, and rolls out its multi-platform promotional campaign for season two of its flagship series “Salem.”
From creators and writers Brannon Braga and Adam Simon, “Salem” is a gripping one-hour drama that boldly re-imagines the infamous 17th century witch trials in colonial Massachusetts. The series stars Janet Montgomery (“Made in Jersey,” “Human Target”), Shane West (“Nikita,” “ER”), Seth Gabel (“Arrow,” “Fringe”), Ashley Madekwe (“Revenge”), Tamzin Merchant (“Jane Eyre”), Elise Eberle (“The Astronaut Farmer”) and Iddo Goldberg (“Mob City”). New to the cast of “Salem” for season two are Lucy Lawless (“Xena: Warrior Princess”, “Spartacus”), Stuart Townsend (“Betrayal,” “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”), Joe Doyle (“Raw”) and Oliver Bell (“The Saint”).
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