Actress Janet Montgomery plays Mary Sibley on WGN America’s period drama Salem, which explores the Salem Witch Trials in the early days of America.

Janet Montgomery On ‘Salem’

Montgomery believes that Salem is worlds apart from some of its tawdry predecessors when it comes to tackling sorcery. Not only does Montgomery point to the violence in the series, but how it handles its female characters.

“It’s definitely not like a sort of cheesy witch show. […] It is very violent and a lot of the violence actually is through the women and that’s quite exciting,” Montgomery explained to uInterview in an exclusive interview. “I think the show is so different from any other witch show because the characters are really complicated. These women, you don’t know how to feel about them. That’s my favorite thing that I hear from any fan is that they don’t know whether they sympathize with Mary, or they like or they hate her.”

Going into greater death about the female roles in Salem, Montgomery admits that she does see the show as having feminist sensibilities. While the women in the show are involved romantically with their male counterparts, there’s a lot of drama that unfolds without the men, between the women.

“Especially this season, there’s not just Mary Sibley; there’s the Anne Hale story line, there’s Mercy, there’s Lucy Lawless – who’s joined the show – that you have all these great female characters all coming together,” said Montgomery. “So yeah, I do think that for other women watching the show there’s some empowerment in that. Whether you’re an actress or you work in an office, just to see more women on TV interacting with each other rather than just playing the girlfriend.”

Check Out uInterview’s Exclusive With ‘Salem’s Shane West

The Salem Witch Trials is a point in American history that is often explored through pop culture. Despite the abundance of material available about the trials, they are still a point of interest for many people. According to Montgomery, this is due in part to the way in which the psychology that inspired the hysteria still seems prevalent in today’s society.

“I think it was the sheer sort of like psychology of the way people acted and it still rings true today. There can be a mass hysteria from something that no one has seen or knows about. It happens with religion. There’s hysteria over God even though we’ve never seen him and I feel like witchcraft sort of plays into that,” Montgomery observed. “What brought that on, whether there was something bizarre that happened that made people think witches were true, whether people actually thought they were witches because of the way Puritans would have said that if you were a woman who enjoyed having sex or if had a certain mark on your leg then you were a witch. Maybe people actually did believe they were witches.”

Salem’s second season premiere aired April 5.

Leave a comment

Read more about:

Q: Who is your character on the show? -

I play Mary Sibley on the show ‘Salem,’ and she’s a sort of a complicated, emotional, normal girl who seven years ago, she was in a predicament where she was pregnant in a puritanical society, and in order to save her own life within the society, she gave up her soul to the devil to give up the child. Those seven years pass, and she becomes more and more detached from who she was before and more into the art of witchcraft. She’s also still in love with her first love, John Aldin, and his return in the first season made her sort of want to get out of what she started. The second season starts of with her believing John is dead and the return of the son she sacrificed. She suddenly has this seven year old son and that becomes very complicated.

Q: How is this show different from others about witches? -

It’s definitely not like a sort of cheesy witch show. That’s not at all what we’re going for and I think in the writing, in the way it’s depicted. It is very violent and a lot of the violence actually is through the women and that’s quite exciting. Not often do we get to play those sorts of parts. I think the show is so different from any other witch show because the characters are really complicated. These women, you don’t know how to feel about them. That’s my favorite thing that I hear from any fan is that they don’t know whether they sympathize with Mary, or they like or they hate her. And then you feel like you’re creating a real three dimensional character.

Q: Why are people still fascinated with the Salem Witch Trials? -

I think it was the sheer sort of like psychology of the way people acted and it still rings true today. There can be a mass hysteria from something that no one has seen or knows about. It happens with religion. There’s hysteria over God even though we’ve never seen him and I feel like witchcraft sort of plays into that. And, it was something where nobody can really go back and say exactly what was going on in that time because it was in America. People had moved over there, and they didn’t know what they were going to encounter. There’s not enough in the history of it for us to look at, so that we can kind of create it ourselves. We can’t understand why people were pointing the finger and saying, “Witch, witch!’” What brought that on, whether there was something bizarre that happened that made people think witches were true. Whether people actually thought they were witches because of the way puritans would have said that if f you were a woman who enjoyed having sex or if had a certain mark on your leg then you were a witch. Maybe people actually did believe there were witches.

Q: Do you think that this is a feminist show? -

I do in the sense that it’s creating jobs and role models for women and more so than... I feel like, especially this season, there’s not just Mary Sibley; there’s the Anne Hale story line, there’s Mercy, there’s Lucy Lawless – who’s joined the show – that you have all these great female characters all coming together. So yeah, I do think that for other women watching the show there’s some empowerment in that. Whether you’re an actress or you work in an office, just to see more women on TV interacting with each other rather than just playing the girlfriend.