Exclusive Interview
‘Sullivan’s Crossing’: Morgan Kohan on Season 3’s Finale Bombshell, Maggie & Cal’s Season 4 Future
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Sullivan’s Crossing Season 3 Episode 10 “Head to the Heart.”]
Maggie (Morgan Kohan) and Cal (Chad Michael Murray) cannot catch a break on Sullivan’s Crossing. The show’s central couple has been through the ringer multiple times in Season 3. Maggie had to balance being in the honeymoon phase of a new relationship while balancing her grief of losing her baby after the Season 2 finale fire.
Cal had to confront his past demons when he learned that his schizophrenic father was terminally ill. If that wasn’t enough trauma, Maggie learned that Edna (Andrea Mendard) had a brain tumor that could leave her permanently blind or kill her with a risky surgery. Then Maggie and Cal almost found themselves in “on a break” territory when it became clear to Cal that Maggie wasn’t ready for a long-term relationship until she figured out her career path.
Frankly, Cal was jumping the gun with those accusations, considering what Maggie had been through over the last few months and had only just reconnected with her father, Sully (Scott Patterson). However, the two managed to figure it out. After Maggie got back in the OR to take out Edna’s tumor, she realized what her next steps at the Crossing should be. She will spend Season 4 getting licensed in Canada so that she can open her own medical practice in town. This will allow her to help people, like she’s always wanted. If the hospital needs her to step in on another surgery, she can do that, too.
Jessie Redmond / Fremantle
Cal was overjoyed with the news, and the two started planning to move in together, but the bliss was short-lived. As the two canoodled over Maggie’s career realization and their exciting new chapter, a newcomer approached them. He introduced himself as Liam (Marcus Rosner) — as in Maggie’s former “summer fling” Liam that she ditched to focus on her career — and then dropped the bomb that he is actually Maggie’s husband.
The look on both Cal and Maggie’s faces proves that they did not expect this relationship hurdle at all. We’ll have to wait for Season 4 to get the full story about Maggie and Liam’s deeper-than-expected summer fling. In the meantime, Swooon caught up with series star Morgan Kohan to talk about that big twist, Maggie fully settling into the Crossing, and where Maggie’s relationship with Cal goes from here.
At what point in the season did Roma and the writers clue you in that Maggie and Liam’s relationship was a lot deeper than a summer fling?
Morgan Kohan: I remember hearing a little bit. I didn’t know they were married. There started to be talk when we filmed the scene with Lola and having summer flings. I knew that he was going to be coming into it but I didn’t really know when or in what capacity. That cliffhanger was so much fun for me to read as well.
Did finding out that she was previously married reframe how you think about her attitudes towards marriage and commitment?
Kohan: That’s a great question. I feel like it came up so last minute that I didn’t really have time to think about it, but I think it definitely would. It makes a lot more sense, for sure, for her to be more hesitant. At the same time, I still don’t know the history, so who knows when we get to find out a bit more of that information, what he really means that he’s her husband and all that kind of stuff.
How do you imagine this is going to test her and Cal’s relationship? They just got over this big hurdle, and they don’t get a second to breathe before another obstacle is in front of them.
Kohan: Absolutely. I mean there’s gonna have to be a few conversations had. It’s going to be a trust thing to have to build up again because that is a pretty big thing to leave out.
What would you say is the biggest difference in her relationship with Cal between the start and end of the season?
Kohan: I think in the beginning of Season 3 they are still very much in the honeymoon period. They are very excited and just in love and giddy. They are so happy to be getting to know each other on this level. At the end, they’ve proven themselves to each other in many regards and are willing to fight for each other. They’ve overcome so many hurdles already by the end of Season 3. They are in a grounded place that is a bit more realistic…They just feel more solid…until Liam shows up.
This twist is going to require exploring Maggie’s college era past. What are you most excited to discover about her in that time period?
Kohan: I’m really excited to hear more about her life, who she was, how she’s changed. Was she just as neurotic about things and everything needing to be in perfect order? Was that something that came through later in life? I’m excited for all of it.
Before Liam showed up, Maggie made a big decision about starting a clinic at the Crossing. How do you think that will settle her more in this place that she calls home?
Kohan: I think it helps so much. It’s a huge weight to be lifted off of her after being in this limbo for so long. Once you have a plan, once you have a sort of purpose, knowing what’s going to happen moving forward…I think it must be a huge relief for her.
She says that it’s not surgery that she wants, but to help people. Do you think she’s really done with the scalpel?
Kohan: That’s probably something she’s willing to let go of, but I’m sure that there is a potential for that to still be part of her life, just maybe not in the same way that it was in Boston.
You got to play her in the operating room in these last two episodes for the first time since the pilot. What was it like getting to play surgeon Maggie in that environment again?
Kohan: It was so cool. I loved it. I was like, “Wow, I really feel like a fraud here. This is great.” I was looking at a piece of cloth. I did have the forceps and the scalpel and all of that, but I was nowhere near anyone’s brain at that point.
How did almost losing Edna change Maggie this season?
Kohan: How heartbreaking for her! I think it’s such a wake up call of how important people are in your life. They’re all reminders of how important this place and these people are to her. I hope she gets to spend time with her and really lean into that relationship going forward.
How was this different than the multiple times she’s almost lost Sully at this point?
Kohan: With Sully, multiple times it was [Maggie]’s choice. Her not coming back when she was a kid and [staying away] as an adult. That was her choice. Her leaving the Crossing at the end of Season 1, that was her choice to leave. Then there was a medical scare. This was so out of the blue for her and terrifying in a different way.
What was your part of filming Season 3?
Kohan: I just feel so lucky that we have three seasons. We’ve built such a wonder rapport with a lot of the crew members that are the same. A lot of the cast members have been with us through the whole thing. There’s just such a comfort in it. I feels like such a welcoming home to every season.
Sullivan’s Crossing, Season 4, TBA, CW
