Trivia / Motherland: Fort Salem

• Actor-Shared Background: In a show stuffed with Fake Americans, notably all named Native American characters including the Cession council are played by Indigenous actors.
• Billing Displacement: Despite being absent for much of Season 3, Taylor Hickson retains first billing throughout the entire show.
• Casting Gag: The introduction of the Marshall in season 3 isn't the first time Michael Horse has played a Magical Native American law enforcer.
• The Cast Showoff: Raelle sings "The Book of Love" in the Season 2 episode "My 3 Dads" and "I'll Be Your Mirror" in Season 3 episode "But I Don't Even Have A Dress...", showing off her vocal and guitar skills. Taylor Hickson, her actress, has been singing and playing the guitar since childhood, being a professional musician along with her acting career.
• Enforced Method Acting: According to Jessica Sutton, the look of anticipation on her face in the episode "Delusional" when Alder strokes Tally's face was genuine; Lyne Renee apparently told her to expect a kiss.
  "Lyne made me think she was gonna kiss me... the... entire.. time shooting this scene. I forgot to breathe."
• Fake American: Oddly, most of the main cast are not actually Americans. Taylor Hickson is a Canadian. Amalia Holm is Swedish. Jessica Sutton's a South African. Lyne Renee is Belgian. Kai Bradbury's a Canadian too. Guest star Bernadette Beck is English. Emilie Ullerup is Danish.
• Market-Based Title: The show is simply titled Fort Salem without the word "Motherland" in the UK. While the official reason for this is unknown, it is most likely to avoid confusion with Motherland, a sitcom about parenthood, especially since both shows are distributed by the BBC in the UK.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor: Non-binary actor Ess Hödlmoser portrays M, whose gender was All There in the Script until it was discussed in mid-season 3.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Anacostia was killed off in the finale because Demetria McKinney had to leave the set early to film the pilot for The Winchesters, where she plays Ada Monroe.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Prior to getting this role, Taylor Hickson auditioned for another blonde modern TV witch: Sabrina Spellman in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
  • The series was originally conceived of as a book.
• Word of God: The official recap/analysis/behind the scenes series After the Storm often allows the actors and creator to give additional insight into characters' thoughts and motivations. Some examples of this include:
  • My Greatest Failure: Eliot Laurence (creator/showrunner) has said that Alder's sister's death is something that haunts her with guilt, and that she has always wondered if fighting back sooner could have prevented her death.
  • Older Than They Look: According to Laurence, Khalida is actually a very ancient witch, despite her childlike appearance. While this was strongly implied in the first season it appears to have been dropped in later ones, where she is written more as an actual younger sibling of her brother Adil.
  • Emotionally Tongue-Tied: Taylor Hickson (Raelle) has said that Raelle felt guilt over being scared to tell Scylla she loved her, which drives Raelle's desperate and reckless actions in episode 1x06.
  • Demetria McKinney (Anacostia) has stated that while Anacostia did believe Scylla deserved a second chance, she followed her back to a Spree safehouse to spy on them.
• Written-In Infirmity: Raelle getting sucked into the Mycelium in season 3 was written in due to Taylor Hickson having to recover from a car crash during shooting season. Raelle is absent or has a very reduced presence in several episodes.