Exclusive
‘Ransom Canyon’s Lizzy Greene and Casey W. Johnson on Lauren & Kit’s Whirlwind Romance
Sometimes falling in love can feel like a tornado. Emotions are swirling, and it can happen completely out of the blue.
The tornado that touched down in Season 1 of Ransom Canyon completely altered the trajectory of Lauren Brigman and Kit Russell‘s future. And that’s exactly why Lizzy Greene and Casey W. Johnson are at the center of Swooon’s latest Sizzle Reel spotlight.
Their characters had always been at odds — Lauren, the cheerleader with the seemingly perfect life and big plans for a future outside of the small town, and Kit, the troubled yet protective older brother of Lauren’s boyfriend, Lucas (Garrett Wareing) — until the storm rolled in. While stuck hiding out together, there was an undeniable chemistry between Kit and Lauren, an electricity that wasn’t planned.
“Nothing of that was intentional,” Greene says. “I don’t think it was on the radar of having Kit and Lauren be a thing.” She pointed out that she and Johnson had “barely worked together at all up until that point,” but that’s the magic of TV chemistry. Johnson had read the script and didn’t want it to “feel like we’re flirting.” When it came time to film the scene, he realized this was actually a moment where “two people [are] connecting on a human level, on just being hurt and just being vulnerable and open. And I don’t know, sometimes I think that that can build an even stronger connection.”
Once showrunner April Blair saw those Kit and Lauren moments in the episode, she knew she couldn’t let those sparks go to waste.
A Stormy Love Triangle
When Season 2 begins, the trajectory Lauren thought her life was taking has evaporated. She is adrift after an injury sidelined her from cheerleading, her chance at the college scholarship she wanted is gone, and her mom’s in prison for her involvement in Randall Kirkland’s death. Meanwhile, Lucas’ future has never been brighter, and she’s convinced herself that she’s holding him back.
Kit and Lauren’s first scene together in Season 2 is outside Gracie’s Dance Hall. Lauren is drinking gin straight from the bottle after needing a break from pretending she’s perfectly fine. Kit sits down next to her and asks if she and Lucas had gotten into a “tiff.” Lauren scoffs at the question and calls Kit a “motherf**ker,” a callout to Kit’s past relationship with her mom. (“I just pretend that never happened,” Blair says with a laugh.)
Netflix
“Lucas is this eternal optimist and this golden retriever and perfect boyfriend, but I think she is kind of craving something more close to what she’s going through, and I think she’s not feeling like light, airy cheerleader vibes,” Blair explains. “She’s going through a darker period, and I think Kit just brings out something in her that feels more connected to who she is in that moment. With Lucas in Season 1, they’re lying by a river and sketching each other, and it’s very first blush romance. And I think with Kit, it’s something that has like a deeper emotional connection for her. He kind of taps into her pain a little more.”
When Greene spoke with the writing team ahead of the second season, she was clear about wanting Lauren to struggle. “Season 1 she kind of had everything she wanted until the end when things started to unravel,” Greene points out. “I think Season 2 is mid-unraveling at that point, and I think the relationship with Kit is her throwing her hands up in the air, being like, ‘You know what? I’m just gonna do this for me. I don’t care if this is right or wrong. In this moment, I like this, and I want to follow that feeling.'”
In the next episode, Kit spots Lauren drinking in the Silver Dollar Cocktail Bar and pretends to be her boyfriend to shoo away a man hitting on her. They play some pool, where that electricity between them ignites once again. Johnson notes that Kit is “in a place of confusion” when it comes to his feelings for Lauren. “He really wants to take responsibility and be a better person for Lucas and just for himself,” he says. The more time he spends with Lauren, the more Kit sees that they can be open with each other in a way they can’t with other people.
For Greene, the moment Lauren’s feelings for Kit begin to shift is during Lucas’ homecoming party. Lucas is celebrating after being crowned king, and while he wants to include her, Lauren doesn’t feel like she fits into her old life anymore. She finds solace avoiding the party with Kit, who introduces her to his cat, Mr. Scratch, in a gentle moment that shows the older Russell brother’s softer side.
Netflix
As Lauren admits that she wanted to be prom queen, Greene says that Kit gives Lauren “this gift of being like, well, why don’t you want to just be somebody else? Isn’t it time to maybe try and live a new life? And rather than doing the thing that feels like it’s you, do the thing that’s actually you.”
The Chosen One
After an adorable moment involving kittens (they were all adopted!) and Lauren using Kit as a model for her art project, the brewing feelings between them boil over in Episode 5 when they share their first kiss. Right away, they regret the kiss because they don’t want to hurt Lucas, but it’s too late. Lucas witnesses the lip lock from right outside the window.
Both Johnson and Greene are glad Lucas found out when he did. “It’s more fun that he finds out instantly, and I think it’s honestly probably better for Kit and Lauren, too,” Johnson tells Swooon.
From there, everything spirals out of control. Lucas and Lauren’s relationship falls apart. Lucas sleeps with Lauren’s best friend, Ashley (Jennifer Ens), after seeing the kiss. In wanting to protect his brother’s happiness and believing he’s unworthy of being loved, Kit decides to leave Ransom for Wyoming. Kit has only ever put his brother first; he doesn’t know any other way. In the process, he has to break Lauren’s heart.
“The one responsibility I have in life is Lucas, and I’ve even messed up my relationship with Lucas, the person that I love the most, the person that should be my whole life or is my whole life,” Johnson says of Kit’s mindset. “I think for sure he’s fully committed to leaving, but Lauren ends up stopping him in the end.”
Netflix
Lucas and Lauren have a heartbreaking conversation about everything that’s happened and where they go from here. Taking inspiration from Staten’s (Josh Duhamel) advice earlier in the episode, Lucas lets Lauren go. He tells her Kit’s headed to the bus station to leave town. Lauren rushes to get there before it’s too late. “There’s nothing good in me,” Kit says to Lauren. “I’m not letting you go,” Lauren tells him before they kiss as the snow falls around them.
Kit has spent his entire life never putting himself first. He’s only a few years older than Lucas (which Blair confirms), but he’s always been his brother’s protector, whether it’s from their father or making sure he has the best shot at a future beyond Ransom.
No one has ever chosen Kit — until now. Lauren showing up at the bus stop is a game-changer for Kit.
“I feel like Kit’s always sort of felt alone and like an outcast and someone who’s just fighting and just not being able to just figure it out,” Johnson tells Swooon. Now that Kit and Lauren have each other, a door has opened for him to prioritize his happiness for once. “Having a stable partner is extremely helpful, and I definitely can see him having more of a redemption,” Johnson says about what the future holds. “I think he’s already redeeming himself but still along the way making some mistakes.”
As for Greene, she shares her take on Lauren’s grand gesture. “I think that was really important for him and, like, his self-actualization of knowing that he was needed and not needed just from a standpoint of, oh, I need to take care of Lucas because we don’t have parents, and I have to be that father figure for him. I think needed as in, no, someone outside of his brother actually wants and needs him to stay because there’s been so much issue [since] Season 1 with him and people having opinions of him based on the Randall storyline.”
She continued, “That probably was the first time in a long time where he’s felt like he’s been desired or needed outside of necessity. I also think Lauren’s really feeling like everything in her life was falling apart at that point. Like, she obviously is not with Lucas anymore, and now this person she thought she had so much in common with, and finally found this feeling of like, oh, we can both not know what we’re doing in life and that be OK and just figure it out. And now he’s leaving, so I think the big grandness of it all, I think she needed to do to prove that she actually does have real feelings for him as well.”
A New Future & Second Chances
The Kit-Lauren-Lucas love triangle joins the long list of TV love triangles involving brothers, and given the history of the trope, no relationship is unbreakable. Johnson is excited to see Kit and Lauren’s next chapter, but he makes a surprising confession. “It feels like Lauren and Lucas are endgame, like Staten and Quinn are ultimately endgame,” Johnson admits. “But also, things happen. You never know. But I definitely think they’re going to explore this. I feel like they’re just like scratching the surface of just being together and exploring what their connection holds.”
Greene hasn’t ruled out a Lucas and Lauren reunion either. “I think if there’s a world where they do come back together and have this reconciliation, they will be stronger because of it,” she says. “I think that probably it was necessary for them to take a break. Speaking to the future, though, I don’t know because I think there’s so much stuff we haven’t gotten into with my mom and with Kit, and so I think if we get a third season, I think we’ll be able to explore that part a bit more, and that’s definitely going to be a little bit more tumultuous.”
Ransom Canyon, Season 2, Streaming Now
