Plot Synopsis

Set in the volatile world of 17th century Massachusetts, SALEM centers on an epic romance wrapped around the infamous witch trials in Salem, where the witches are real, but they are not who -- or what -- they seem. Pragmatic and hardened war veteran John Alden returns from war to Salem in 1692 to find his hometown consumed in a witch-hunt frenzy. Civil liberties have been suspended, torture implemented, and the townspeople are gripped by the fear and paranoia of recent witch hunts. Alden realizes that he must save Salem because the town represents the fate of the New World, and, at the same time, he wants to save his onetime love interest, Mary Sibley, from a place gone mad. Ruthless and vulnerable Mary, now married to town leader George, is Salem's most powerful enchantress. Mary has always used her position of power and influence to promote her personal ascension within Salem, and to wreak revenge upon those whose hypocrisy and cruelty lead her to her current struggles. But when Alden returns, long-dormant emotions resurface, turning her world upside down, and regardless of whom she truly loves, her husband or John, Mary may well be bound by ties even deeper to someone -- or something -- else. But Alden also catches the eye of Anne Hale, a beautiful and talented artist, who is a passing vision that makes ladies envious and men fall in love. Anne is a rebel, always testing boundaries, which deeply concerns the Puritans, especially because she's the daughter of the powerful Magistrate Hale. Magistrate Hale, Salem's chief politician, believes in pomp and circumstance, is a close confidant of Mary, and is a member of the selectman, the most powerful body in town. While Magistrate Hale, a Puritan, is part of a progressive movement that believes in the fair treatment of witches, he is opposed by Cotton Mather, a well-educated local aristocrat, who fans the flames of Salem's witch hunt. Cotton, an expert on witches and malice, wrote "Glimpses of the Invisible World," the first bestseller published in America about the subject, but he is a man of contradiction, because he's a God-fearing believer that strives to uphold the law -- even though he hunts witches. Other residents of Salem include: Mary's servant, the mysterious and mysteriously ageless Tituba, who behaves as if she's Mary's superior in private and who has experienced unthinkable deeds throughout the years with each other; Mercy Lewis, the daughter of Reverend Lewis, who is mysteriously afflicted by a tormenter of unspeakable horror and is seen as a victim of malice and witchcraft; and lower-class driver Isaac Walton, also known as Isaac the Fornicator, who is still paying for his indiscretions as a teenager and quickly that certain things cannot be unseen when he joins the town's witch hunts. On Sunday, April 5, 2015 at 10pm ET/PT, WGN America premiered the 13-episode second season of SALEM. Season 2 opens at the dawn of the witch war set into motion at the end of the first season, with its catalyst and Salem's deadliest witch, Mary Sibley, at the center of the mayhem as she faces off against new and old adversaries vying for her throne. In the wake of the destruction caused by the Grand Rite, completed by Mary and inadvertently triggered by Isaac Walton in the Season 1 finale, the fates of Captain John Alden, Cotton Mather, Tituba, Anne Hale, Mercy Lewis and Isaac hang in the balance. New characters for Season 2 include: Countess Marburg, one of the last descendants of a legendary line of ancient German witches; Samuel Wainwright, a mysterious doctor looking to uncover the secrets of Salem as he keeps a few of his own; Baron Sebastian Marburg, the charming and cultured son of the Countess; and Mary's long-lost son, who was revealed in the Season 1 finale to have been secretly kept alive all along by her coven. On Wednesday, November 2, 2016 at 9pm ET/PT, WGN America premiered Season 3 of SALEM. The devil has arrived and everything he promised the witches is a lie! He has his own plans that will bring nothing but death and destruction and there's only one person on Earth that can stop him. The only problem is -- she's dead. Or is she? In the season opener, "The Fall," written by series creators Brannon Braga and Adam Simon and directed by Nick Copus, John Alden is forced to bury his love, Mary Sibley, and her mysterious servant, Tituba -- now with the abilities of the seer -- has a horrifying vision of hell on earth. She knows the only person who can stop this evil and beat the devil is the very witch that birthed him, his mother, Mary Sibley. Meanwhile, Isaac takes it upon himself to attempt to clean up Knocker's Hole and get revenge against Mercy, who has found her calling running the brothel. Still struggling with her new powers, Anne Hale continues to imprison her husband Cotton Mather, using her familiar Brown Jenkins. With the help of Baron Sebastian Marburg and his old ally and fallen angel, The Sentinel, the devil is planning a massive attack and war with God that will culminate in the ultimate showdown between good and evil.
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On Wednesday, January 25, 2017 at 9pm ET/PT, WGN America premiered the series finale of SALEM. In the series ender, "Black Sunday," everyone prepares on the eve of Salem's demise.