Canadian writer-producer Floyd Kane is stepping in as head writer and showrunner for Season 5 of Sullivan’s Crossing, succeeding series creator Roma Roth, who is stepping down from day-to-day leadership while remaining an executive producer on the popular romantic drama.
Based on Robyn Carr’s bestselling novels, Sullivan’s Crossing follows Maggie Sullivan, a neurosurgeon who returns to her rural Canadian hometown of Timberlake, Nova Scotia, where she navigates love, family and the complications of her past. Morgan Kohan stars as Maggie alongside Chad Michael Murray as local love interest Cal. Scott Patterson played Maggie’s father Henry Sullivan, known as Sully, for the first three seasons before departing over creative differences.
Season 4 picked up with Maggie finally settling on a new direction for her career and a renewed commitment to Cal, until her ex-husband Liam, played by Marcus Rosner, arrives and upends everything, causing Cal to question whether she will ever truly be able to leave her past behind. Sully’s absence is acknowledged throughout as he remains in Ireland. The season closed on a major cliffhanger involving Maggie and Cal, setting the stage for Season 5.
Kane is best known for creating CBC’s Diggstown, the first Canadian legal drama with a Black female lead, which ran for four seasons beginning in 2019. He recently executive produced the TV movie Recipe for Romance and the BBC Scotland/Sky New Zealand thriller series The Ridge.
Roth, who created the series and served as showrunner for its first four seasons, will continue to have her creative vision reflected in the show despite stepping back from a managerial role. She also executive produces Netflix’s hit Virgin River, which is heading into Season 8 and is likewise based on Carr’s novels.
Filming on Season 5 is set to begin later this summer in Nova Scotia. A Season 5 pickup by the CW, which has been the show’s first-window U.S. home since Season 1, is still being finalized. There are currently no plans for Patterson to return. The Gilmore Girls veteran departed after Season 3 citing creative differences. “The creative differences were becoming untenable and I just sadly realized that the show was not something that I could agree to continue,” he said in March.
Despite the behind-the-scenes turbulence, Sullivan’s Crossing has continued to perform well on both sides of the border. The series remains the CW’s most watched show in the U.S., and Season 4, which wrapped its CW run on June 22 before debuting on Netflix on June 30, immediately shot into the streamer’s daily U.S. Top 3 for TV series and ranked at number six on Netflix’s global English series chart for its opening week with 3 million views.
Sullivan’s Crossing is executive produced by Reel World Management in association with Bell Media’s CTV, The CW and Fremantle.