The Big Picture

• Chad Michael Murray discusses his return to The CW with Sullivan's Crossing and how he feels about being back on the network.
• Murray talks about working with Scott Patterson again and the comfort it brings him on set.
• He teases the journey of his character, Cal Jones, and promises that viewers can expect growth and emotional moments in the show.

The drama series Sullivan’s Crossing, currently airing on The CW, follows Maggie Sullivan (Morgan Kohan), a star neurosurgeon who feels like her world is imploding when a patient dies and the mother blames her. Looking for some perspective, Maggie returns to her childhood home where she finds a different set of challenges, from her estranged father (Scott Patterson) to a very distracting local resident named Cal Jones (Chad Michael Murray), as she attempts to figure out what’s truly most important to her.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Murray talked about returning to The CW with another series, what he enjoys about working with Patterson again, how much they’re pulling from the book series by Robyn Carr (who also wrote the Virgin River books), the Cal and Maggie dynamic, what he likes to do to keep things interesting in scenes with his co-stars, what viewers can expect from this season (they’re already shooting Season 2 in Nova Scotia), and the ongoing joke about Cal’s full first name.

Collider: I love shows with this kind of small town vibe that make you want to go live in the setting.

CHAD MICHAEL MURRAY: I’m so with you. Thank you.

For lack of a better way to describe it, you were one of the heartthrobs of The CW, during a very specific time period on that network. What’s it like to have a show on The CW now, at this point in your life, 20 years after the premiere of the pilot of One Tree Hill? Do you feel very different from who you were when One Tree Hill was airing? You’ve done a ton of work between then and now, but what’s it like to be back at the network?

MURRAY: It’s such a beautiful, full circle moment. How do I feel? Completely different. I’m a totally different human than I was 20 years ago, my gosh, and I can enjoy it in a completely different way. When you’re 20 or 21 years old, the way that you enjoy something is very, very different than when you’re 42 and you’ve got a family. I’m grateful for the opportunity to tell stories. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be back home, at a network that has taken great care of me over the years, and that’s expanded and grown so much. They’re now a broadcast network. They’re now doing different genres. They’ve really become this new CW. It feels really full circle. It feels good to come back with Sullivan’s Crossing, which reminds me very much of another show that I did. Sullivan’s Crossing is a place that you go and it’s a place that I think people are gonna wanna visit. It just feels like home.

Any show that airs for nearly a decade is bound to get a bit crazy and go a bit off the rails at times. When you think back on it now, are you surprised that you got away with some of the things that you got away with on One Tree Hill?

MURRAY: I thought we jumped the shark real early. Look, I love every aspect of what we did and what we accomplished. I can just say that the fans were what that was always about for me, and I’m so grateful for them. We have had this whole full circle of growth together, over the last 20 years, and that’s what really blows my mind. And I think they’re gonna be on board for Sullivan’s and see a bit of that and a bit of them portrayed through these characters. That’s what I really believe.

I love that you are back working with your Gilmore Girls co-star, Scott Patterson. Did you know, going into this, that you would be doing the show together? What’s it like to be back working with him again?

MURRAY: I did know. Scott and I have crossed past a few times, over the last 20 years. My goodness, it’s been longer than that. Scott was the cool uncle for me when I was 18 or 19 years old. When you’re a young actor and you walk into this industry, you look for support and you look to the older statesmen to guide you, and that’s what Scott did. What he did for me back then was to make me feel like, “You’ve got this,” and that’s what you need, as a young actor. God willing, I can do that for other young actors, along the way, just being supportive and being like, “You’ve got this, man. Let’s crush it.” You never know, when you’re trying out crazy things and just hoping that you don’t screw it up and get fired immediately. So, Scott did that for me. And then, over the years, we did an independent film that we never actually worked on together, but we saw each other and would cross paths at different things. And then, he was on a TV series with my wife for a bit. We’ve had this symbiotic crossing, in and out of each other’s lives, for the last two decades, and here we are now, finally getting the opportunity to work together. It was really comforting when I found out that he was gonna be [on the show]. When you’re an actor and you’re going onto a project, it doesn’t matter how long you’re doing this, you always feel like you’re walking into a world of unknown. You don’t know how your co-stars are gonna be. You don’t know what they’re gonna be like or how they do their work. And so, when you walk into a scenario where you know somebody, it’s always a little bit more calming.

Obviously, with a TV series, they can’t tell you everything that it’s going to be. They can’t tell you all the aspects of who the character is because they don’t even have the answers to all those questions. What were you told about who he would be? What was it that made you want to sign on to play this guy?

MURRAY: I was privy to some information because there happens to be a book series by Robyn Carr.

Yes, but you never know what will actually be carried over to the TV series.

MURRAY: Right, you never do. We wanted to keep a certain amount of these characters’ journeys there for the people who have been on this journey since the beginning when Robyn Carr penned these bestselling novels. You wanna stay true to what was created. Through that, I had a long conversation with (show creator) Roma [Roth], and when I got off the phone with her, I felt such a peace and such an excitement, knowing what Cal had been through. To know his backstory, to know where he’s coming from and where he’s going to, and all the trials and tribulations that he needs to overcome, in order to be the man he wants and to move forward with his future, that’s what really sparked my interest. I saw a show that had legs and had opportunity. That was really why I jumped on, and I’m grateful I did.

Obviously, there are sparks happening between Maggie and Cal, even if they don’t realize it or want to acknowledge it. TV shows always seem to want to keep characters like that apart and give them obstacles that prevent them from getting together, as long as possible. How do you feel about that? Is it tricky to find that balance of giving fans what they want, but also not giving it to them too soon?

MURRAY: I have to say that it’s different for every fan out there. Some people want that touch and kiss, straight out of the gate, and they don’t want to wait. My wife, for instance, will watch Korean dramas and she loves it, three seasons in, when they finally hold hands. I will say, to each their own. Some people love the long wait, some people want it to be a little shorter. I think that we are threading the needle and doing an A-plus job. Roma Roth knows what she’s doing in that department and I think that the fans will be satisfied, on both ends of the spectrum. What really takes place is organic growth, and that’s what it’s about. There has to be an organic growth to these relationships. A lot of healing needs to take place. That’s what Sullivan’s Crossing really is. That’s the theme of the show, for me. Cal came here because he needs to heal, and I don’t think he knew just how much he needed to heal or how much this place could heal him. If you look at everybody, they’re all here to heal. They may not know it, but that’s what they’re here for. He’s coming home to heal. He proceeds with a little bit of drama in there to maybe separate some people, but you’ll see real connection.

When you play a character like this, where you don’t necessarily know the ending of the story and you don’t know how long you might play him, in order to keep him interesting for you, is it about adding the little nuances to him to make him fun?

MURRAY: One hundred percent. Truth be told, just to always keep people on their toes and to keep them guessing and to keep my co-stars focused, when you’re 15 hours into a day and you’re tired and you get a little complacent, I’ll just change my dialogue and throw random curveballs in there, to see if everyone’s listening, but also because it’s just fun. If you would have told me when I was 10 years old, “Hey, you’re gonna be an actor, and at 42, you’ll be 25 years into your career,” I would have said, “You are so full of it, little 10-year-old self.” But sure enough, here I am and I’m grateful. I love this journey. I love getting up and going to work. I love the opportunity to tell stories and share them with everybody. It feels like there’s this symbiotic relationship between myself and the fans out there that watch these shows. We’re on the same adventure together. Other people may not see it that way, but the way I see it is, we’re both on the adventure together. They’re taking it in and ingesting the content, and I’m doing the same thing, just in a different way, so we’re all going on these journeys together. I always like to keep it fresh for myself by changing it up, every once in a while, to keep it just a little bit fresh. There are always little winks and nods that I’ll do, that won’t necessarily make it into the edit, but I will always do it. And Roma has come to know me well. She’s like, “You can’t do that.” And I’m like, “Just cut around it.” And she’ll be like, “I don’t want to cut around it.” It’s funny because we’ll have these little moments. I’ll be like, “Okay,” and I’ll keep it straight for just a moment. I just like to keep it lively because we’re telling stories, but if these characters don’t feel fresh and alive, then they’ll die.

There’s a funny karaoke moment in the bar with your character witnessing Maggie and Sydney singing “I Will Survive.” What’s it like to shoot a scene like that? How long did you have to listen to and what that?

MURRAY: The bonus and the magic of filmmaking for that particular karaoke moment is that she doesn’t see me. I was snoozing in my trailer for that moment. I wanted to see what they were gonna do, just for my own sake. So, I watched the master, I saw them go crazy, and I was dying and cracking up. It was the first time, so they had all that energy. And then, three hours later, they were just dying. That’s when I came back in and I was like, “Are you guys holding up? I’m as fresh as a daisy. I’m good.” I’m here with my kids, so after I get out of work, I go home to being a dad and a husband and a football coach. I’m also wearing multiple hats while filming, so I try to get those snoozes in when I can. It’s very rare that I get that opportunity. So, in that particular scene, I was snoozing. Usually, I don’t get that chance, so I took it. But honestly, they were fantastic. They were just on fire, playing off one another, and they really had no time to rehearse it. It such a last second thing that they learned over the weekend, and the next thing they do, they were playing off each other. They just crushed it.

Without spoilers, what would you say to tease fans who are watching the series for the first time, who didn’t see it when it aired in Canada? What would you say to tease the journey the show and characters take, over the first season?

MURRAY: You’re gonna discover a lot about Cal Jones and why he’s this mystery man, what he’s really been through, why he’s at the Crossing, what he’s there to accomplish, and why he finds Maggie is so interesting. She’s intelligent. She’s sophisticated. She’s a little firecracker. There are obvious reasons why that would be, but you will discover a little bit more about the depth of the relationships. You’re gonna find out a whole bunch of secrets between now and episode 10. And then, once you get to Season 2, you’d better watch out. It’s good, and I promise you, it will just grow and grow and grow with these characters. It’s gonna pull at your heartstrings. It feels good. It’s a feel-good show. It’s grounded. There’s someone for everyone to go on the journey with. You’re gonna be able to identify with at least one person in the show or at least one situation that someone’s going through, and you’re gonna go, “Gosh, that feels like me.” And then, you’ll see how they deal with it and how they make choices, or you’ll see how different they might be from you. It’s really quite fascinating.

It’s so funny to hear Maggie continuing to guess what Cal’s full name actually is. Were all of those guesses scripted? Were some of those just thrown at you and you didn’t know they were coming?

MURRAY: It’s incredibly amusing. We still do it now. They’re so funny. It’s hard for me to remember, to be completely honest with you. I know we did some alts, but we stayed pretty true, for the most part, to the jokes. I loved them. They’re just so very dad joke friendly. I really loved them. It’s great. The development is fantastic. You might get a name out of Season 1. There’s a chance that might happen.

Sullivan’s Crossing airs on Wednesday nights on The CW.