Dear Wynonna Earp,

You were never meant to succeed. Throughout four seasons spread over five years, the odds have always been stacked against you. Both on screen and off, behind the scenes, and in corporate dealings, you, along with showrunner Emily Andras, the cast and crew, and your loyal fanbase have had to fight tooth and nail for every single bit of success and win you’ve gained along the way.    As we now stand on the other side of four seasons, with the possibility of the end looming, it seemed only fitting to pause and take a look back. To look at everything you’ve been through, what makes you so special, and how you have changed people, how you changed me.

Of course it’s obvious now, and extremely fitting, that you premiered five years ago on April Fool’s Day in 2016. After hearing your crazy premise, that the show would follow the great-granddaughter of the legendary Wyatt Earp as she battled demons and revenants, it quickly became clear that you wouldn’t be a show for everyone. They tried to bury and hide you away on Friday nights at 10 p.m., but in the end, your call was too strong and your people found you anyway. You may not have been for everyone, but for some, you were everything. 

You miraculously got renewed for a second season, only then to have the wonderful Melanie Scrofano reveal that she was pregnant, news that would have caused shifted plans and much bigger, more traditionally successful shows to falter and misstep. Not you, Wynonna Earp, you took that news in stride and Wynonna’s on-screen pregnancy turned into possibly the best storyline the show has seen. As with most things Wynonna Earp, the unexpected and unplanned route for Wynonna, the show, and her journey turned out to be the right one all along. Wynonna became the pregnant on-screen superhero we rarely get to see, and it’s hard to imagine that there was ever any other path for our Earp heir.

Learning to be resilient, take the hits in stride, and go with the flow would prove even more beneficial when your production company ran out of money and put Season 4 in jeopardy. Thankfully, the family that the show and its cast had built, through seasons of genuine, thoughtful, heartfelt interaction with its fans, meant that Earpers everywhere weren’t going down without a fight. As the absolutely unprecedented Fight for Wynonna lit up billboard after billboard in Times Square, the true power of this show, the stories it was telling, and the fact that it made people feel seen (possibly for the first time ever), meant that IDW absolutely had to find a way to produce the season that had been promised. 

Battles took place off screen seemingly every year to keep Wynonna going, while on screen Wynonna Earp went through just as much. Born into a legacy that she didn’t ask for, with an abusive, alcoholic father and a mother who ended up in jail, Wynonna reluctantly, and later, confidently, stepped into the role of Earp Heir. She made sacrifice after sacrifice to keep her family safe, including the biggest one of all when she sent Alice to live safely outside of the Ghost River Triangle. 

How lonely it must have been to feel as though she never had a choice, when in reality, Wynonna Earp was always teaching us the opposite. We always have a choice and there’s always another way. If life is not working out as planned, or there’s a tough battle currently waging, there’s always a way out or a choice to be made that can change the situation. We just have to be willing, and strong enough, to make it. We are all enough, but asking for help, and leaning on found family, is not only acceptable, but welcomed. None of us is in this life alone. 

This lesson has never been more evident than in Wynonna herself. No matter how hard she was knocked down or couldn’t get out of her own way, she always woke up the next day and tried again. For four seasons, Wynonna has shown us that it’s not about winning every battle or defeating every single enemy, but it’s the people who fight alongside you that matter most. Never stop trying. There will be days when you want to run or are tired, and you’re not going to be perfect, but if you come back and still stare down the enemy and keep going then that’s what truly counts. Wynonna Earp, you’ve taught us that. 

Wynonna Earp was never “just some girl,” and the series will always be more than “just some TV show” we all watched together for a few seasons. The values and ideals the show represents will continue to reach beyond the boundaries of Purgatory for so many years to come. Much like the mailbox that stood on the Earp Homestead in the finale’s closing shot, when it comes to Wynonna Earp, everyone is welcome. This little Canadian TV show has gifted so many people with new friends and their own found family. So few other shows can claim to have had the impact you have had, Wynonna Earp.

The inclusive, found family feeling has always started at the top with showrunner Emily Andras. She writes her characters on-screen the same way that she leads her cast and crew off-screen. Her “no jerks” policy ensures that kindness is cool, collaboration helps everyone, and by working together the best possible product ends up on screen. Andras’ heart, smarts, ideals, and quick wit have always made the show what it truly is. There is no Wynonna Earp without Andras driving the bus, and no one could possibly do it the way she has. The world of Wynonna Earp is a place where people feel like they belong, they matter, and they are loved. It’s a place where they can stay, be themselves, be loved, and be celebrated.

What Andras started has always trickled down to the Wynonna Earp team as a whole. A close second to Andras’ foundational impact has always been the amazing performance of Melanie Scrofano as Wynonna. Just as no one else could ever drive the Wynonna bus but Andras, there could never be another Wynonna than Scrofano. Her talent knows no end. What a blessing it has been to watch four seasons of her playing this wonderful character. How lucky are we to have witnessed such greatness? The awards and industry accolades may never come, but for Earpers, we know that what we have seen is special, and wonderful, and ours. Melanie, what a gift you’ve given us. 

From day one, the Wynonna cast, crew, and writers have treated the fandom in an unprecedented way. They were there for live tweets since episode one, interacting with fans and giving their time to build something from the ground up, together. Mel, Tim, Dom, Kat, Varun, and every single Wynonna Earp cast member, thank you for recognizing early on how much that personal connection and your enthusiasm about the series meant to fans. It was absolutely infectious. You made people feel seen and all part of one big family. It’s a feeling that was also adopted by the Wynonna writing team, themselves active on social media and interacting with fans. This show always felt different from any other show, and the difference is that the Wynonna Earp cast, crew, and writers love us back.

For all the on screen demon fighting, mystical Gardens, and supernatural enemies, Wynonna Earp has always recognized that the characters are what’s most important in the end. Everything always came back to our beloved characters and that was never more true than in the finale episode, “Old Souls”. Most of the season’s main plot points — the Garden, the Clantons, Dark Angel Waverly — had been wrapped in the penultimate episode a week before, meaning that Andras made sure at the end of this journey to give due to what truly mattered: these characters and the bonds of love they share.

While we don’t know if this is truly the end of your road, Wynonna Earp, after watching a finale like that, I think we’d all accept it if it were. Each of our beloved characters got a happy, true ending that they deserved. No one was cheated or slighted or not given a storyline worthy of what they have been through over four seasons. Everything felt right and perfect. There was a great feeling of peace that washed over each character’s heart and it could be felt off screen as well. If things change and the show does come back, I have no doubt that Andras and her team will be able to pick things up and introduce new and exciting stories, but if not, what an absolutely perfect way to end it all.

Wynonna Earp, when I look back on our time together and the journey you’ve taken us on, I know that you have always felt real and true. You have made so many people’s lives, including my own, better thanks to the time we have spent with you, our little found family. So much of the good we all now have in our lives is because we followed you to the Ghost River Triangle. I love you Wynonna Earp, in that bottom of the deep, dark well way. You are the best of us. We are forever all in. 

With all the love that lives in my butt,

Bridget Liszewski