Avatar Star Stephen Lang Heads from Pandora to Salem

Steve Barton   |  

Apr 18, 2014

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This Sunday night marks the season premiere of WGN America’s “Salem,” which kicks off at 10/9c. As we anxiously await the start of the televised witch hunt, a familiar face has just come on board the series, and we’ve got all the character details for ya today!

Per Deadline, Avatar‘s Stephen Lang has been tapped for a recurring role in the drama, playing Increase Mather, an old-line, hard-core Puritan who led the way across the ocean to the Promised Land in the late 1600s. Intellectually, spiritually, and politically, he’s the most influential man in the country — and the most feared.

“Stephen Lang is a tremendous actor armed with an almost frightening knowledge of history and psychology — perfect for our twisted Salem, where Increase Mather is a man driven to monstrous deeds by the intensity of his convictions and a loving father who torments his son precisely out of love,” said co-creators, executive producers, and writers Brannon Braga and Adam Simon.

Created, executive produced, and written by award-winning writer/producer Brannon Braga and Adam Simon, “Salem” stars Janet Montgomery as the ruthless but vulnerable Mary Sibley, Salem’s most powerful enchantress; Shane West as handsome, hardened war veteran John Alden – and Mary’s onetime love interest; Seth Gabel as local aristocrat Cotton Mather, who fans the flames of Salem’s witch hunt; Ashley Madekwe as Mary’s mysterious, carnal accomplice, Tituba; Xander Berkeley as chief politician Magistrate Hale; Tamzin Merchant as the forthright Anne Hale, an artist with a perilous attraction to Alden; Elise Eberle as the mysteriously afflicted Mercy Lewis; and Iddo Goldberg as outcast Isaac Walton.

“Salem” Episode 1.01 – “The Vow” (airs 4/20/14)
John Alden (West) returns from war to discover that the woman he left behind is now married to another man and that his hometown of Salem, Mass., is in the midst of a witch panic in the premiere of this supernatural drama.

Keep your eyes on the “Salem” Facebook page for updates and more info.

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