Sullivan’s Crossing won over Netflix viewers with stories of love, loss and loyalty in a small town — but how does the TV adaptation compare to the original book?
Based on Robyn Carr‘s book series of the same name, Sullivan’s Crossing follows neurosurgeon Maggie (Morgan Kohan) as she finds herself in legal trouble and returns to her hometown in rural Nova Scotia to reconnect with her estranged father, Sully (Scott Patterson).
Three seasons in, Maggie was finally dating love interest Cal (Chad Michael Murray) but their romance faced its fair share of ups and downs — including an appearance from her secret husband, Liam (Marcus Rosner).
Sullivan’s Crossing has also explored other characters featured in Carr’s five-book series: What We Find, Any Day Now, The Family Gathering, The Best of Us and The Country Guest House. But the show, which premiered on CTV before airing on The CW and then Netflix, has also made efforts on screen to differentiate itself from Carr’s other book series that was turned into a show — Virgin River.
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Keep scrolling for the main differences that took place on the show compared to Carr’s version:
Location, Location, Location
Fans who tuned into Sullivan’s Crossing on Netflix were introduced to fictional town Timberlake in Nova Scotia, Canada. But while the series — and the book — is named after the Sullivan family’s campground, Carr set her story in Colorado.
The biggest reason for the swap was to not make Sullivan’s Crossing too similar to Virgin River, which centers around the lives of residents living in a small town in Northern California, including Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) and her love interest, Jack (Martin Henderson).
More Love Outside of Maggie and Cal
Similar to Bridgerton, which has each season based on a different couple from Julia Quinn‘s book series, the book version of Sullivan’s Crossing consists of five novels about five different love stories. Cal’s siblings — Sierra and Dakota — each get their own book while Rob (Reid Price) is the focus of the third and the final novel is about new character Hannah’s personal life.
Cal and Maggie’s Romance
After finding love in the first novel, Cal and Maggie remained committed to each other and would continue to be explored in the rest of the series. Sullivan’s Crossing in show form is taking more liberties by creating bigger obstacles for the fictional couple to face.
Andrew (Allan Hawco) was more of an ex before Maggie ever came to Sullivan’s Crossing. While she was pregnant with Andrew’s baby in the book, the miscarriage happened before she was introduced to Us. The TV show had Andrew play a bigger role before his and Maggie’s split in season 2.
While Cal and Maggie got together before season 3, they were still dealing with issues when we last saw them in the season 3 finale. A fair cry from book Maggie and Cal who were married and parents to a daughter by Carr’s second novel.
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The Sully of It All
Speaking of relationship changes, Sully and Maggie were in a very bad place when Sullivan’s Crossing premiered on our TV screens. Carr’s book, however, didn’t have the daughter-dad duo as estranged after not speaking for 15 years. In Carr’s version, Maggie visited her dad by the time she was 11 and they were able to sustain a bond despite the distance.
Character Changes — and Gender Swap
The book had Sydney (Lindura) falling in love with Cal’s younger brother Dakota instead of Rafe. As for Connie (Lauren Hammersley), she’s a man in Carr’s book series and is paired off with Cal’s sister.
