Exclusive Interview

‘Sullivan’s Crossing’: Chad Michael Murray Reveals His Cal & Maggie’s Wedding Hopes

Chad Michael Murray sees the vision for Cal and Maggie’s (Morgan Kohan) future on Sullivan’s Crossing, and he’s enjoying the ride. Season 4 of the cozy drama just wrapped on The CW Network (and is now available on Netflix) with quite the development in Cal and Maggie’s relationship. After the drama of the reappearance of her estranged husband, Liam (Marcus Rosner), had settled, Maggie was unsure of where she stood with Cal.

Well, Cal settled that uncertainty for Maggie by proposing to her. Before they could properly celebrate their engagement, the couple got a knock at the door. Tracy’s (Emerson MacNeil) foster parents could no longer take care of her, and she needed a place to stay. It’s a whole new world for Maggie and Cal heading into Season 5, and Chad Michael Murray spoke to Swooon about Cal’s proposal, his thoughts on their wedding, the Sully situation, and more.

What was your reaction when you found out Cal was going to propose to Maggie in the finale?

Chad Michael Murray: There was a lot of conversations about that. For me, you go through four seasons of trauma and drama to get to a place, and after Season 4’s very back-and-forth, where do I stand moment, part of me was like, OK, this is a little sudden. Let’s put our feet on solid ground here. So it was a big conversation. Everybody was involved. Every single person from the top down was involved in that conversation. I think, ultimately, it came down to, what’s the best for this outcome? What are the fans going to appreciate? What is everybody really looking for? And I hope that we hit it. I really do. From what I’m hearing, people loved the last episode.

Morgan told us she felt Cal let Maggie off a little easy. Do you feel the same way?

Murray: Cal drew a line in the sand that he needed to draw. Every person in life has to draw a line in the sand at some point. You have to take care of yourself; you can’t just be walked over, especially in a scenario like this where you don’t even know where you stand in a relationship. I understand that love conquers all. I’m all about it. And that’s why these two are star-crossed lovers. However, this was a very tough thing for them to overcome. All that being said and done, I understand Liam’s story. Once you get really into it, you’re going, OK, there’s a valid reason for him to be there. There’s a valid reason for her to still have feelings for him. It’s not like it’s just a fling and she’s accepting something. I think she just had to find out that at this place in her life, that’s not who she is. That’s not what she wants anymore. She’s looking for everything that Cal has. And I think that we got there. Does she get off a little easy? Yeah, but at the end of the day, Cal’s always been her rock. One of the things I wrote on the top of the script when I first got it was, ‘You’re the rock.’ He’s the rock. Always be there. So whenever there’s a scene, I’m always trying to figure out how to do everything in a way where he’s her rock.

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I have a bit of a cheat code, however. There was a book series. It’s not like they’re not going to end up together. Anything too traumatic can become almost unforgivable, so I always have to play to that. But I have to also play to the truth of people at home who are watching. I remember, I was very sure they had to draw a line in the sand. The guy’s being kicked when he’s down. We need to do something about that. And we did. Now they’re back, and I want to see that relationship blossom and I want to see them take things on as a team. Everything is now on the outside coming to them, so they can handle it together.

Do you think we’ll get a wedding in Season 5?

Murray: It’s a good question. That’s a great question. Will we get a wedding? My gut says probably not. I think we’ll get to the point of them getting ready for it. I don’t know. This is the first season where I actually know nothing. We usually have the entire arc right now that people have whispered to me, but I honestly just haven’t had time to pick up the phone and be like, “What are we doing?” My gut says the wedding, we won’t get to. But we’ll probably find out that she’s pregnant before the wedding. So right before we’re about to walk down the aisle, she’s going to find out she’s pregnant or something, and have to tell Cal and then we’ll go to black. So we’ve got her pregnancy with the pressures of the marriage, and maybe Tracy is missing for the ceremony, and it will all end up in total catastrophe, leading us to Season 6, and they’ll have a baby at the end, happily married, with an adopted older sister in Tracy. That’s my pitch.

Maybe you should just write the season…

Murray: If they would take my word, I’m in. Post it. Maybe they’ll read it.

Do you think Cal has a vision for the wedding? Does he want a big or small wedding?

Murray: Small. If it was up to Cal, it’d be a small wedding, and they would elope somewhere privately, and it would be the two of them. But he’s done that before. The first one was a runaway elopement. But I think, ultimately, you know it’s going to be a big, beautiful ceremony with Frank and Edna and the whole Crossing. Everyone will be there to celebrate. I’m sure someone will drop with a heart attack during the ceremony or something…

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Do you want to see Sully come back for the wedding?

Murray: I mean, whatever they have in the story … all those decisions happen to be above my pay grade. But Sully’s a part of the Crossing. He will forever be that home-y feel of the Crossing. You would think that he would be back.

If Liam came back into the picture, do you think he and Cal could be friends?

Murray: That’s what I want. We talked about it last season, and this season, we pitched that. It’s too soon right now. It wouldn’t make sense right now. However, I do want them to become kind of brothers in arms, to a certain degree. Maybe he’ll be that love interest for Amalia’s character.

Well, there’s clearly still a lot of story to tell…

Murray: You know, we’re blessed. We’re going into Season 5, and you know it’s a rarity to get to Season 5 these days. It’s not as common as it used to be. So we’re going to keep riding it and enjoying the ride.

Sullivan’s Crossing, Season 5, TBA, The CW