On the 22nd of November 2013, Lifetime announced that Witches of East End had been picked up for a second season. The Season premiered on July 6th and will feature a total of 13 episodes with the cast returning to play their respective characters, plus an additional cast member, Christian Cooke.
Actors began submitting Audition Videos for Frederick, Eva & Tommy in the month of April 2014. In April, Freddie Prinze JR confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that he would likely not be returning to the series, having only done it as a favour to his friend Mädchen Amick.
On the 25th of April, Ignacio Serriccihio confirmed via his Twitter that he had joined the cast and was filming in Vancouver. Also in April, Bianca lawson revealed she would be joining the show.
On May 8th the Hollywood reporter revealed that Christian Cooke had joined the cast as a series regular. Taking on the role of Frederick Beauchamp, the brother of Ingrid & Freya.
On May 19th Deadline reported that Steven Berkoff had booked a recurring role on Witches, as King Nikolaus, the patriarch of the Beauchamp family & ruler of Asgard.
In June, Richard Hatem revealed via Twitter that James Marsters had signed on to join the show.
Filming
It was announcd by Eric Winter on his Twitter account that filming would begin in April 2014.[2] After a month spent in the writers' room (with special appearances of Rachel Boston, Mädchen Amick[, Julia Ormond and Jenna Dewan-Tatum), shooting for the promotional material began on April 4, 2014 - and a first promotional video was uncovered on Sunday April 20, during Devious Maids's premiere episode. Shooting the season premiere began on April 22, 2014.[3 Episode two began shooting on May 2nd [4]. Melissa De La Cruz annouced via twitter that Debbie Allen was directing an episode of the series. On the 7th of June Eric Winter posted a picture to Instagram of some of the cast "rehersing" scenes. The picture showed them on a dance stage with Debbie Allen and two male dancers. On June 10th, several writers revealed via Twitter that director Joe Dante would be directing episode 6 [6] The episode was written by Akela Cooper. Fans of the Series will notice a considerable change in the look and feel of the show. This is due to the network employing a new Cinematographer. The series now has a darker look to it which matches the shift in storytelling.
Promotion
The official season 2 tagline
Lifetime began promoting the Second Season during the premeire episode of Devious Maids. A 33 second clip aired with clips containing shots of each character to the song "The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson. In the clip, a long shot of a street appears which decends down the street. Dark Imagery is followed, with a woman playing with a human heart, cockroaches crawling on a skull and two woman appearing to kiss. Dash is seen clutching at the heart as blood runs down his fingers. A shot of Freya then follows, then a shot of Madchen. Another shot reveals a tarantula crawling across a mans back. Various glamour shots follow, Ingrid rises from a bed, Killian rises from a pool of water, Joanna is seen praying, and Freya flies into the air. The glamour shots continue until the camera reaches the man at the end of the street. The man, who is wearing a hooded top then smiles. The tagline "Darkness is rising" plays throughout the promo until a new logo appears for the show, You can see the promo here.
Following this promo, seperate promo's were created for each charactor, many of them being avalible to see here. Each of the promo's contained Marilyn Manson's song "Beautiful people" with the "Darkness is rising" tagline. Along with the premiere date, July 6th.
On June 6th Lifetime released a new music video via Entertainment Tonight. The new video is an edited version of the Beautiful people promo, with a new track, a remixed version of Black out Days by Phantogram. The new video also contained additional scenes but did not include Frederick. Before the video aired, a small set of interviews "Teased" the second season.
Jenna Dewan Tatum made multiple television appearances to promote the series, including Chelsea Lately, Jimmy Kimmel, Fox11LA & E! News. In the same month, Julia Ormond made multiple television appearances on a variety of television shows & talk shows to promote the series. Rachel Boston also made promotional appearances on Fox11LA & OKTV in the month of July.
Billboards & Other Media
Dash Poster in NYC
Along with the promotional videos, season Two was heavy marketed via Billboards and posters. Various posters were put up around Los Angeles, Canada & New York City. The majority of the posters featured either Dash or Killian with the slogan "Darkness is rising".
Lifetime's Witches of East End - Season 2 promo 2-0
Distribution
COUNTRY
CHANNEL
Premiere Date
USA
LIFETIME
July 6th
CANADA
LIFETIME CANADA
July 6th
UNITED KINGDOM
LIFETIME UK
August 25th
Trivia
Fans of the series will have noticed huge changes in the series, most noteably the budget. The budget for season two has dramatically increased. Which maybe due to a Sponsorship deal with Maybelline.
