Chad Michael Murray is weighing in on the departure of his Sullivan’s Crossing co-star Scott Patterson, who left the Canadian romantic drama series ahead of its recent Season 4 premiere on CTV.
“It does happen. And there are various, different things that transpire,” he told Yahoo! Canada of the departure. “You just never know. And so it’s one of those situations where you go, ‘OK, well, just look at the show, what is the show? Where does it sit? And how do you hold it up and keep it true to itself? And that’s all on the text and the storytelling.’”
The Freakier Friday star continued, “There’s no question in my mind that we did that. The show stays totally true to itself, and Sully [played by Patterson] is still a big part of it … He still exists in this world, and there’s still that relationship. And he built the Crossing, so it’s always going to be there, and that’s kind of the foundation that the show is built on.”
Earlier this month, Deadline exclusively broke the news that the Gilmore Girls alum left the namesake series on his terms due to “untenable” creative differences. Patterson said he felt compelled to say his piece after executive producer/showrunner Roma Roth’s comments implied the series moved on from Sully due to a plot decision.
“The fans deserved better than to think the embodiment of this character, me, would just disrespect not only the show, but them. In the end, we’re all fans of these characters and stories, and I’ll always support and defend the truth,” Patterson said in his statement.
Season 3 of the show ended with Sully departing for Ireland to support his new girlfriend, Helen Culver (Kate Vernon), whose novel was being adapted for TV there. The move was framed as a temporary relocation.
“Season 3 of Sullivan’s Crossing ended with Sully leaving for Ireland, beginning a new chapter in his life. Season 4 picks up the next day, with Sully still overseas,” Roth said. “While he isn’t physically present in this season, the character remains an important part of the world with the potential to be included in future seasons should that align with the ongoing creative.”
Season 4 of the series, which will debut in the U.S. on The CW April 20 and subsequently move to Netflix, positions the new installment as a Murray-Morgan Kohan two-hander. Per the logline, Maggie Sullivan’s (Kohan) life at the Crossing is finally taking shape as she decides on a new direction for her career and a renewed commitment to Cal (Murray). That is, until Maggie’s ex-husband, Liam (Marcus Rosner), arrives with a shocking revelation that once more upends Maggie’s life and leads Cal to question whether Maggie will ever truly be able to leave her past behind.