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Kai Bradbury is no stranger to playing with magic and supernatural forces, which makes his role on Motherland: Fort Salem that much more exciting.
Bradbury chatted with us about his upcoming role on Freeform’s new series, which premieres on March 18, in an exclusive interview for Tell-Tale TV.
Bradbury plays Gerit, a male witch who comes to Fort Salem and strikes up a whirlwind romance with one of the witches, and he was quick to tell us that “playing Gerit was a dream” for him because they are both romantics at heart and the fact that “this is the most time I’ve spent with a character on a series. So getting to do that arc was really great.”
When asked to describe the show, Bradbury stated that “Motherland: Fort Salem is a kind of alternate history.”
“In this timeline, the witches of Salem — after the persecution that happened in Massachusetts — [under the direction of] General Alder, decide to cut a deal with the Massachusetts Bay Militia in order to seek protection for [their] own kind and offer to fight with the military for the states. So [General Adler] runs like a special unit, a special forces if it were.”
Bradbury added, “in this universe, we are following three main girls who are recruits — in present day.”
However, don’t call what the Fort Salem witches do magic. According to Bradbury, “our creator and one of the producers Eliot Laurence, who’s the mastermind behind all of this world, never use the word magic.”
Instead, Bradbury explained that “the powers are coming from the voices of the witches. And so, they’re not so much casting spells as their powers come from sounds they create.”
Despite the supernatural elements, Bradbury noted that this is a show about “women strength” and “discovering who we are and what we are meant to do here.” He believes that it will be a show a lot of people can relate to.
“Even though this [story is a] whole other timeline and this world is so different from ours, they’re still people figuring out who they are,” Bradbury said.
He was also keen to point out that Motherland: Fort Salem is a very diverse show with “all kinds of culture and race and body types.” The show boasts a wide range of international cast members from South Africa, Belgium, as well as Canada and The U.S.
“Our audiences are going to get to discover a new universe. How things work in this world. [You’ll see] how people celebrate and how people live their daily lives are different than ours in our timeline,” he explained.
With all this talk of witches and what skills they manifest on the show, Bradbury admitted there was one skill he wished he had in real life.
“I would definitely love to blast, which is one of the skills that the witches are developing where they can move and blast through things with their voice.”
Our conversation then turned to how Bradbury connects to his character, Gerit. There wasn’t much he could divulge, but with a laugh, he did try.
“I’d definitely say we’re both alike in that we are lovers, not fighters. I’d say Gerit’s probably more confident than Kai is. But we both love a good time, and we both have a passion for other people.”
Bradbury closed out our conversation with a final thought on the mark he wants to leave on this world.
“One of my favorite things to do is make people smile, make people laugh. If I can just continue in all mediums of art to make people smile and laugh and that’s what I would like to leave.”
“My dad always says to leave something better than you when you received it. Be that anything. Be that something that you borrowed from someone or the world that we live in,” he continued.
“If we can receive something and then give it back or continue on with it being better than when you had it first that would be the best thing to do.”