In Spring of 2020, Freeform original series Motherland: Fort Salem took the world by “storm and fury” with its premiere season. Set in an alternate America where witches ended their persecution and genocide 327 years ago by negotiating an accord with their country, Motherland’s story centers around three young witches who are newly conscripted soldiers of the United States Army: Raelle Collar (Taylor Hickson), Abigail Bellweather (Ashley Nicole Williams, and Tally Craven (Jessica Sutton). Together as the Bellweather Unit, the powerful women courageously plunge into the fight against a terrorist organization known as the Spree, a witch-led resistance group fighting against the conscription of witches. The hit witchy drama show also stars the talented actors Amalia Holm, Demetria McKinney, and Lyne Renée.
Through technical and immersive storytelling, show creator and writer Eliot Laurence produced a mainstream television series that readily prioritizes women empowerment, sisterhood, racial and ethnic diversity, and positive LGBTQIAN+ visibility. The Freeform series simultaneously spotlights and condemns toxic masculinity, xenophobia, and terrorism, drawing obvious parallels to the harmful sociopolitical ideologies and radicalism that plague our present-day United States like the Camarilla-made contagion.
To the credit of its diverse cast and crew, the sci-fi/fantasy drama has appealed to a largely diverse viewership spanning the globe and has catalyzed the founding of a fierce fanbase that proudly adorns the title of “Switch Army”. The diversity behind and in front of the camera has been the unifying factor that cohesively blends a fandom family comprised of people from all different ages, cultures, ethnicities, races, genders, sexualities, socioeconomic backgrounds, and abilities.
Disappointing news surfaced just one day ahead of Motherland’s Season 2 finale episode, “Revolution, Part 1“, in August 2021. Freeform announced that the beloved show would be renewed for a third and final season despite Laurence’s aspiration to produce a total of seven. The news of the premature cancellation ignited a ferocity in the Switch family and resulted in a campaign to save Motherland: Fort Salem that spread across social media platforms like wildfire in the forms of hashtags, various art media, articles, podcasts, and a Change.org petition that garnished over 22,000 signatures. Among the many dedicated Switches and groups contributing to the cause is the Motherland Fort Salem Billboards campaign. PopWire sat down with the individuals spearheading Billboards for an exclusive interview in which we discuss the groundwork of the campaign, why the supernatural drama series needs to be saved, and how Switches can continue to support the #SaveMotherlandFortSalem movement.
Motherland Fort Salem Billboards hit the ground running in August 2021 soon after the announcement of the series’ unexpected cancellation. The campaign’s primary order of business was raising funds to purchase billboard space and street-level posters in two major cities — Los Angeles, California, and New York City, New York — to showcase fanart in December 2021 and January 2022. Billboards’ GoFundMe fundraising efforts surpassed their original goal of $3,000, gathering a fully fan-funded total of $4,180. In December alone, Billboards informs us that they were successful in booking “seventeen kiosks throughout New York City… [that aired] four different [fan-made] promotions”.
The work didn’t end there –- Billboards also produced and sent “Save Motherland: Fort Salem” campaign letters to over fifty media outlets. “We wrote a letter… about Motherland’s situation, its LGBTQ [representation], the passionate fandom –”, Billboards explains. “We included hashtag data, Nielsen ratings, parrot analytics, GLAAD statistics – anything to communicate why this show shouldn’t be canceled.” Billboards media outlet outreach resulted in an article published with the UK’s DIVA Magazine and another with Australia’s LOTL. Informational letters were also sent to “directors, heads of departments, and producers at Netflix, Hulu, and Prime Video.”
Conceivably, the most jaw-dropping effort to promote the #SaveMotherlandFortSalem movement was Billboards’ bold hand-delivery of 385 Spree-blue balloons to the Hulu offices back in November 2021. “Delivering the balloons to Hulu was a particularly eventful day for everyone and that got a lot of attention on Twitter and Instagram from the cast and fandom,” Billboards shares. “It absolutely exceeded my expectations and it was just so much fun to share that stunt with everyone. I think it really brought everybody together and boosted morale showing what we could do.”
Understanding the importance of keeping the Motherland fandom engaged and hopeful, Billboards has scheduled weekly “Tweet Storms” using hashtags #MotherlandFortSalem and #SaveMotherlandFortSalem since early December 2021. “The fandom averages about 1,200 [tweeted hashtags] per day, but during the first Tweet Storm on Monday, December 6th, we hit 7,600 hashtags in one day, and on December 13th, we got 5,500.” When combined with the following day to account for global time zones differences, these numbers jump to 10,990 hashtags on the 6th-7th and 8,051 on the 13th-14th. Since then, Billboards has organized three more Tweet Storms, adding 26,389 tweets with Motherland hashtags to the tally. By the end of 2021, the dedicated Switches Army accumulated 1.8 million tweets since the start of the show – no small feat for a 20-episode series featured on a smaller network like Freeform.
When asked why Billboards has committed themselves to the cause, the answer is simple: “[Motherland] has saved countless lives, without a doubt,” and the show has done so in more ways than one. In the midst of dark solitude forced upon billions of people when the COVID-19 pandemic struck the globe, the series’ story became a lantern that provided fans a source of warmth, direction, and solace. “With Motherland, you can tell Eliot has dedicated most of his life to this story,” Billboards explains. “With that quality of writing comes quality representation.” Undoubtedly, quality representation has led to the show’s hundreds of thousands of fans feeling seen and heard, giving them the ability to fully immerse themselves in a world outside of their own and to escape from the loneliness and uncertainty that loomed with the threat of the pandemic at their front door.
“It’s really valuable in how [Motherland] represents people,” Billboards goes on to say. “None of the characters are tokenistic in the structures they sit in.” Historically in film and television, non-white and LGBTQIAN+ characters are written into media stories as tokens, after-thoughts, and expendable, secondary characters killed off for no other reason than dramatic effect. While the media industry has been slow to progress, Laurence’s creation has surpassed expectations of empowering representation and visibility of marginalized communities. “Our queer characters aren’t dying. Our diverse characters aren’t dying… All of them have reasons to be alive.” Needless to say, the supernatural drama has had a profoundly positive impact on viewers’ self-concept and self-worth, providing fans with a mirror that reflects an image of strength, resilience, and belonging. “Motherland is too triumphant in so many ways for us to just lie down and give up,” says Billboards. “If it wasn’t for the writing in the show, the wonderful actors, the wonderful characters they portray, and … everybody who creates this masterpiece that we get to enjoy, we wouldn’t be inspired to save it.”
“This fandom has been absolutely incredible, and the support means so much,” Billboards expresses with gleeful gratitude. “I know the cast sees it and appreciates it, and I just hope the networks are taking note as well.” Fans have dedicated countless hours of social media engagement, discourse, outreach, and art production to the steadfast #SaveMotherlandFortSalem cause, but the work isn’t over until more seasons have been secured for the cherished witch series. Billboards leaves the Switch Army with a heartening call-to-action:
“If people have suggestions…, they’re welcome to DM us! We’re happy to collaborate or signal boost events or ideas… I think the best thing people can do right now is to just keep making noise, keep using the hashtags, [and] continue engaging with each other; Participate in the Tweet Storms so we can surge our numbers, keep streaming [Motherland] legally on the platforms available in your country, and keep sharing [the show] with others so we can increase viewership. Whenever there’s a poll, or a streaming platform asks about your favorite show – Just keep spreading the word about Motherland.”
Motherland Fort Salem Billboards can be contacted via direct message on Twitter (@MFS_Billboards).
Motherland: Fort Salem can be streamed on Hulu and Disney+. Purchase episodes on Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, and Google Play. Season 3 to air in 2022.
