Witch Creek Road S4 Q&A Cont.

by Garth Matthams

Season 4 Q&A Cont.

Unlike the previous posts, this isn't a summary; rather, it's a continuation of the Q&A that was posted on Webtoons. There were a lot of good Q&A questions, and we couldn't get to many them; as such, I've included a number of those questions here.

 

GENERAL QUESTIONS

STORY QUESTIONS

 

WILL THERE BE A SEASON 5?

No. Webtoons didn't ask, and we didn't offer.

In truth, Witch Creek Road wasn't presented properly, and this unfortunately rests with me and how I originally chose to upload the series.

When I started publishing the episodes on Webtoons Canvas, I had no idea that being Featured was such a thing. I hadn't planned on Witch Creek Road ever being more than a single season, because it wasn't intended to be more than a single season. It was, instead, intended to be part one of a loosely connected series of stories set in the same world, which would have all slowly started to come together.

If I could go back in time, I would have launched the series with a different title - though I have no idea what that title would have been. And it would have looked something like this:

  • [Title] Season 1: Witch Creek Road
  • [Title] Season 2: Skinned
  • [Title] Season 3: Infested
  • etc.

And there would have been a greater separation between the stories. For example, Webtoons requested that some characters from Season 1 made an appearance in the Skinned storyline. From a business standpoint, this makes perfect sense - you want readers to see familiar characters. But, from a story standpoint, this caused problems:

  • it created a sense that this story should be more directly tied to Season 1, and so it left many readers asking what this had to do with the original story. In truth, it was meant to be standalone.
  • the requested changes caused Season 2 to end differently, which didn't become a problem until Season 4, when those changes prevented the story from progressing as originally intended.

So, overall, it just seemed like a good time to end the series. At least for now.

 

WHAT'S NEXT FOR WITCH CREEK ROAD?

Kenan and I will work on “Remastered” versions of the main storylines. In some cases, this will be quite easy. "Skinned", for example, just needs to have some pages removed. For other storylines, such as "Infested", it will require a lot more work. 

In 2022, we'll be running Kickstarters to print the Skinned storyline in its original “stand alone” format, and with its original ending.

 

WILL THERE BE MORE STORIES SET IN THIS WORLD?

Probably. There are many storylines that we haven't explored yet, and many "open" or unresolved storylines. The one I'd personally like to explore more is that of Hailey stepping into the role of the new Scarred Woman.

 

IS THIS AN EXPANSION OF LOVECRAFT LORE? OR ARE THE LOVECRAFT ELEMENTS JUST THERE FOR FLAVOR?

The Lovecraft elements have been present since the beginning – it was just a lot more obvious in the final season. The Wolves, for example, were inspired by, and related to, the Hounds of Tindalos. (Get it? Wolves? Hounds?)

The Wolves are counterparts to the Hounds. The Hounds hunt (and kill) people who attempt to manipulate time (such as time travelers). The Wolves, on the other hand, deal with abnormalities - that is, something that shouldn't be present within the Curves. Unfortunately, when Wolves are summoned by a person, they have no particular direction, and so they run amok - which is, essentially, the only time we've seen them.

Lovecraftian stories also deal pretty heavily with the idea that people aren't equipped to fight monsters, and that the best one can generally hope for is to survive and not go mad - and this has been a pretty standard theme throughout the seasons of Witch Creek Road.

So I'd say that, while some elements were added for flavor (such as the mention of Dunwich in Season 1, the fact that the high school was named Halsey High, etc), the story and ideas were definitely an expansion of Lovecraftian lore.

 

WHAT ENTERED THE WORLD THE FIRST TIME PANDORA OPENED THE DOOR? IS IT STILL HERE?

The first time Pandora opened the door, she released creatures from the Angles (ie. monsters) into the world.

The god she spoke to was the Unravelling Madness. It never came through at that time - it was mostly slumbering in the darkness (though it would eventually enter our world in Season 4).

Of the Angle creatures that entered our world when Pandora first opened the door, some eventually returned to the Angles. Many were killed throughout the centuries. A few remain.

 

WILL WE EVER FIND OUT HOW PANDORA GOT ALL OF HER SCARS?

Possibly! The first story I wrote was called, "The Living Finger", and can be purchased from Darby Pop. The eventual follow up was meant to be "Heart in a Jar", which became part of Witch Creek Road Season Three. But I always thought it would be fun to write different stories, showcasing the short (and often tragic) lives of the Scarred Woman's various body parts.

 

WILL WE EVER SEE ADAM FROM THE GARDEN OF EDEN?

I'd put this more into the "Unlikely" category, simply because there are soooo many other storylines to build upon first. But, at the same time, you never know...

 

WHY IS AWESOME THE ONLY ONE TO SURVIVE EVERY TIME?

Awesome survives because she's unique. She possesses some level of compassion, and takes an interest in certain people. Case in point: Sara. Awesome could have easily killed Sara in Season One, but instead she let her live - albeit as a monster. But... did Awesome turn Sara into a monster to be mean? Or because she thought she was making Sara happy? Sara was obsessed with her weight and had a borderline eating disorder: Awesome removed her stomach. Sara was alone in her head all the time and obsessing over little things: Awesome added people into Sara's head so Sara would never be alone.

When the Wolves "die", they're essentially "reset". They don't remember what happened, and start again from a fresh slate. In Awesome's case, because she survives and has experienced more than the other two, she's a more well-rounded individual.

This becomes a sort of "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" situation. That is, did Awesome survive because she was unique? Or did she become unique because she was allowed to survive?

 

WHY DIDN'T LEGION KILL AWESOME?

At the end of Season One, Grace vows to seek revenge against the Wolves. At the time, she's trapped within a circle. After she's released - and especially after she has her "eyes opened" in Season Three - Grace sees and understands the "larger picture", and the Wolves no longer seem significant.

Had the Wolves stayed out of her way entirely, all three would have likely survived. It's only because they attack Grace that she asserts her dominance and, quite easily, dispatches Ruthless and Grumpy.

 

DID MEDIOCRE HAVE TO DIE?

No. Most characters will have a few possible outcomes, with the progression of the story determining which outcome actually occurs. In Shaleeta's case, she probably had the largest number of possible outcomes of any character. And she definitely survived in a few of those.

 

HOW CAN SARA AND HER MOM STILL COMMUNICATE WITHOUT HER MOM HAVING TO SUMMON HER?

Angles (such as a corner of a room) are areas where the Curves and the Angles overlap. Sara has mentioned on more than one occasion that "You can find me in the angles" - and, in these instances, she was referring to both the Angles as a location, and the angles of a room. It was a bit metaphorical, but someone with a strong emotional connection to Sara, such as her mom, can speak into the corner of a room, and Sara will hear. Dirk would have been able to do the same, had he tried. I like to think of this method of communication as being somewhat similar to a "tin can telephone". The reception is crap... but in a pinch, it'll do the job =)

Tin Can Telephone

 

HOW DID AMITY ROUND UP SO MANY PEOPLE? HOW DID SHE CONVINCE GRACE'S BROTHERS TO GO WITH HER?

This, along with a few other potential episodes, were all cut due to space constraints. Instead, we ended up focusing on what seemed more important at the time.

With regards to the brothers, Grace went to them herself. It was meant to be a touching moment between siblings.

As for everyone else, they're mostly people connected to the Old Man's Assistant. And, specifically, people who had worked with the Old Man and would understand the severity of what the Assistant told them, rather than laughing it off and assuming the Assistant was crazy. The problem with "end of world" proclamations is that most people won't believe you...

 

WILL WE SEE MORE OF THE DREAMLANDS

Eventually. Sara will want to check in with the Assistant, and Grace will want to check in with her brothers. Also, it might be nice to see if Amity and the creature continued any sort of friendship, or if they parted ways for good.

 

IS LEGION KILLABLE?

I'm going to start this by saying that Legion can be a difficult concept to wrap one's head around. She exists in all moments, and each version of herself autonomous. So let's pretend that it's 12:00:00 on June 1st, 2022. And let's pretend you shoot Legion at 12:00:00, on June 1st, 2022. That particular Legion would be dead. But Legion would still exist at 11:59:59, and in every moment before. And Legion would exist at 12:00:01, and every moment after. You're only killing her in a particular moment in time, but she'll exist in all the other moments in time.

In her fight against the Unravelling Madness, many Legions died. But many, many more still exist.

 

COULD LEGION HAVE PREVENTED THE UNRAVELLING MADNESS FROM BEING SUMMONED? OR PREVENTED THE WOLVES FROM KILLING HER FRIENDS IN SEASON ONE?

The tricky thing about time is that some events need to happen. For example, if Legion had prevented the death of her friends in Season One, she would have also been preventing her own death. Which, in turn, would have prevented the creation of Legion. And, without Legion, the friends would have died.

There are certain events that can be changed or altered, but there are also "key" events that need to occur. Episode Four of the Disney+ series, "What If?", describes these as "absolute points" - it's actually a pretty interesting episode, and I'd recommend checking it out.

As for the Unravelling Madness, though it ends up "hijacking" the ritual, the primary factor in it waking is the death of Pandora. Had Pandora not died, and instead completed herself, it would have had a similar effect.

 

WHAT IS TENEBRIS? WHY IS HE BOUND TO THE SERPENT?

Tenebris is a smoke demon - and, in regards to power, he's on par with lesser gods.

Both Tenebris and the Serpent as bound together as punishment for past deeds. This binding also helps to limit Tenebris' true power, as he can never be too far from the Serpent (otherwise his powers will begin to fade).

It's likely their stories will be expanded upon in the future - though how much, I'm unsure.

 

WOULD A LARGER FIRE ALLOW TENEBRIS TO GET EVEN BIGGER?

The Tenebris we saw in Season 4 is about as big as he generally gets. If there was additional smoke available, Tenebris would instead use it to make himself more dense, or to replace some of the smoke that would be continually dissipating into the air. This is one of the reasons the Serpent puts a glass over Tenebris in Season 3 - so that the smoke can't go anywhere and Tenebris can more easily keep his form.

 

WILL NADINE SURVIVE?

That remains to be seen. But Faye has no intention of killing Nadine herself - rather, she wants to use Nadine as a sacrifice to her god. Which means Faye will need to get Nadine back to Innsmouth, and a lot can happen between now and then...

 

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