Exclusive Interview
‘When Hope Calls’: Cindy Busby Hints at ‘Trouble’ For Nora & Michael in Season 3
Nora Anderson (Cindy Busby) and Mountie Michael’s (Christopher Russell) relationship on When Hope Calls is the definition of a slow burn. While their dynamic hasn’t entered romantic territory just yet—aside for that gentle hand touch—the series is definitely building the foundation for a great love story.
Season 2 of When Hope Calls has wrapped up, and fans are looking ahead to a potential third season. Busby spoke with Swooon about the blossoming Nora and Mountie Michael relationship as well as her hopes for the future.
Busby and Russell have worked together several times before, so they have an easy chemistry with each other already. For Busby, she loves exploring the slow burn between Nora and Michael. In fact, she prefers it.
“As an audience member, I’ve watched it many times in shows, and it can be the most frustrating thing to watch as a fan, but it’s also what we want, right? Growing up, I was a huge fan of Dawson’s Creek, and you want them to be together, but if they get together too soon, then what’s the point? I always love to bring comedy into the characters that I do, and I love the awkwardness about falling in love and how out of control we are,” the actress explained. “We have the best of intentions, and then everything goes out the window, and you’re like, what did I just do, and what did I just say, and how did I just behave this way? It’s so awkward and weird and uncomfortable, but you can’t help but want more of it because it’s such a good thing.”
She continued, “I feel like we already kind of navigated that in prior projects together, and this time, it was about navigating it in a period piece, which has higher stakes because in 1920 you’re not going to flirt and touch each other. There’s social standards, and they are very different how a woman behaves in public and a man behaves in public and all that kind of stuff. I think we really navigated it in a very just way. It’s fun to play that kind of back-and-forth banter, but a period piece kind of banter.”
When it comes to romance for Nora, Busby loves embracing a Jane Austen-like approach, where the power lies in the smaller moments. “That lingering look or that look that you didn’t think he’d see, I think it’s so sexy,” she noted. “It’s almost sexier than seeing that in-your-face stuff. There’s something about that that is so intimate and romantic. For me, that’s just what gets me swooning and my heart fluttering when I see it.”
While the Great American Family series hasn’t been renewed for Season 3 just yet, Busby revealed what she believes lies ahead for Nora and Michael. “Well, I think there’s going to be some trouble,” she teased. “I think there would be some trouble between the two. If the ending of the season is any indication where their feelings are starting to be questioned. Is it your job, or is it your love? Can you have both? Especially under these circumstances, and especially that Mountie Michael is in town temporarily potentially. Is he going to leave? And what does that mean for Nora?”
Busby told Swooon that she thinks there will “be more challenges ahead, but there’s also something really cool about seeing the perseverance and that kind of incline, and I’m sure there’ll be something really worth waiting for because you gotta give the people what they want, even if it’s a little bit.”
The Marrying Mr. Darcy star wants to see her character “navigating love on a deeper level. We saw her kind of be awkward around Mountie Michael, but to really play a little bit more cat and mouse would be awesome.”
Look back at Nora and Mountie Michael’s relationship so far, Busby discussed what these characters bring out in each other. From her perspective, the characters “challenge each other” and “really bring out a different side of one another .” She continued, “I think that within each other they find a lot of hope, and they find a lot of trust together where they kind of become these unsuspecting sidekicks that are kind of falling in love.”
