# Motherland: Fort Salem (2020)

> Three young witches trained as soldiers in an alternate America must learn to fight for the nation that once persecuted them.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/77899

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 30
- Episode runtime: 45 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: fantasy, science fiction, action, drama
- Created by: Eliot Laurence
- Network: Freeform
- Cast: Taylor Hickson, Amalia Holm Bjelke, Ashley Nicole Williams, Lyne Renee, Jessica Sutton, Demetria McKinney, Tony Giroux, Catherine Lough Haggquist
- TMDB rating: 7.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9900092/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: action packed, sincere, adventurous, tense

## What critics say

Critics find Motherland: Fort Salem an action-packed, imaginative genre series with a distinctive magic system and a strong female-led ensemble, though its later twists feel less surprising.

## Synopsis

Motherland: Fort Salem (2020-2022) is an American genre series created by Eliot Laurence for Freeform. Set in an alternate United States where witches ended their persecution over three centuries ago by agreeing to fight for the government, the show follows three young women moving from basic training in combat magic into their first deployments. Taylor Hickson plays Raelle Collar, one of the recruits whose loyalty and sense of self are tested as the military asks more of her, with Amalia Holm Bjelke as Scylla and Ashley Nicole Williams as Abigail Bellweather rounding out the central trio. Their engine is the tension between duty to a state that once hunted their kind and the bonds they form with one another. Each episode mixes drill-yard training, field missions and uneasy politics, and the three seasons form one continuing serialized story. The tone blends action and adventure with sincere character drama, a playful rhythm and a sense of threat, and the magic itself is distinctive, channeled through spoken and sung sound. Its world is built on military ritual and institutional control. Fans of Charmed, Wynonna Earp and Dark Matter will find resonance in its mix of genre spectacle, female-led camaraderie and a fast-moving, action-forward premise.

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