Motherland: Fort Salem

Motherland: Fort Salem is an American supernatural drama television series created by Eliot Laurence that premiered on Freeform on March 18, 2020. The series stars Taylor Hickson as Raelle Collar, Jessica Sutton as Tally Craven, and Ashley Nicole Williams as Abigail Bellweather, three witches conscripted into the U.S. Army. In August 2021, the series was renewed for a third and final season which premiered on June 21, 2022, and concluded on August 23, 2022.
Motherland: Fort Salem follows Raelle Collar, Abigail Bellweather, and Tally Craven, three witches who accept conscription into the U.S. Army. They train in combat magic and use their vocal cords to enact "seeds" or "seed sounds", layering vocal sounds to create powerful spells. The series takes place in a women-dominated world in which the U.S. ended the persecution of witches 300 years ago during the Salem witch trials after an agreement known as the Salem Accord. The world finds itself at odds with a terrorist organization known as the Spree, a witch resistance group fighting against the conscription of witches.
Development on the series began in August 2016 under the working title Motherland, and on June 5, 2018, a pilot had been ordered. On March 5, 2019, it was announced that Freeform had given the production a straight-to-series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. The series was created by Eliot Laurence, who was also expected to executive produce alongside Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Kevin Messick, Maria Maggenti, and Steven Adelson. The pilot was also directed by Adelson. Production companies involved with the series were slated to include Freeform Studios and Gary Sanchez Productions. On May 14, 2019, an official trailer for the series was released. The series premiered on March 18, 2020.
David J. Peterson along with Jessie Sams created the language known as Méníshè, which is spoken on the show by the Tarim, and is described as an "ancient witch language". Laurence and his team knew of Peterson from his previous work on Game of Thrones and hired him to create the language for the show.
On May 19, 2020, Freeform renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on June 22, 2021. On August 23, 2021, Freeform renewed the series for a third and final season, which premiered on June 21, 2022.
Alongside the initial series announcement, it was reported that Taylor Hickson, Jessica Sutton, Amalia Holm, and Demetria McKinney had been cast in series regular roles. Kelcey Mawema, one of the leads in the original pilot, was recast. On March 28, 2019, it was announced that Ashley Nicole Williams had replaced Kelcey Mawema. On August 9, 2019, it was announced that Bernadette Beck would be guest starring in the series. On September 24, 2019, it was announced that Kai Bradbury would be joining the cast in a recurring role. On January 28, 2020, Sarah Yarkin was cast in a recurring capacity. On May 19, 2020, Lyne Renée was promoted as a series regular for the second season. On May 27, 2021, Victor Webster, Mellany Barros, Praneet Akilla, Ess Hödlmoser and Arlen Aguayo were cast in recurring roles for the second season.
Filming for the pilot took place in July 2018. Principal photography for the first season began on April 22, 2019, and ended on August 23, 2019, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Filming took place in the Cloverdale area of Surrey, British Columbia, from May 9 to 10, 2019. Filming for the second season began on October 9, 2020, and concluded on April 1, 2021. Filming for the third season began on November 2, 2021, and concluded on April 14, 2022.
Internationally, the show airs on Fox8 in Australia, streams on Showmax in South Africa, and is exclusive to BBC Three and BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom under the title Fort Salem, to avoid confusion with the BBC sitcom Motherland.
As of November 20, 2020, it has been released by Amazon Prime in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
In Canada, Sweden, and Norway, Disney+ has the streaming distribution rights to the show.
The music for the series is scored by Brandon Roberts. The album for the first season was released on March 20, 2020.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has an approval rating of 71% based on reviews from 17 critics, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Despite a fine cast and impressive set up, Motherland: Fort Salem's ambitious ideas are overwhelmed by the sheer too-muchness of it all." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".