Murder in a Small Town‘s Rossif Sutherland and Kristin Kreuk are grateful that season 2 will continue to challenge their onscreen romance without relying on new love interests or love triangles.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Sutherland, 46, revealed the only request he had when it came to Karl and Cassandra’s (Kreuk) relationship.
“I recognize that the heart of the show is the relationship between Cassandra and Karl. The dilemma is always to try and give them as much real estate as possible within the structure of the show,” Sutherland noted. “It is a whodunit where you only have 42 minutes to tell a story.”
Sutherland wanted to make sure Karl and Cassandra were still a priority in season 2, saying, “It doesn’t give us all that much room. So that was my request. And that’s what we worked on with the writers to try and make that happen.”
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Kreuk, 42, meanwhile, was hoping to see more of Cassandra outside of her scenes with Karl.
“For me it was finding something for Cassandra to do that is interesting — in contrast to a murder. Because a murder is a pressing thing. There’s a lot of energy that goes into solving those things,” she explained. “That is really the request [for me] is to find something for the two of them — and also selfishly for me — to do that is Cassandra driving a story.”
Ahead of the season 2 premiere, Sutherland said the story would only get better from here. “We’ve managed to do more of it and there’s a writers’ room going on for season 3 — if there is one,” he added.
Murder in a Small Town, which is based on novels written by L.R. Wright, follows a police chief named Karl who — along with the help of others, including his girlfriend, Cassandra — investigates mysterious murders.
While season 1 introduced obstacles that Karl and Cassandra had to overcome, they ended the finale together. The plan for the second season was to move away from conflict between Karl and Cassandra now that they are in a good place.
“I don’t know that there’s ever a real threat of breakup for them — although they do not stay in calm waters the whole time. There is turmoil and a lot of it is coming from the outside,” Kreuk teased. “So it’s outside forces pushing in on them and them trying to — with differing opinions — find ways to communicate and be there for each other while weathering the storm. But it does cause hurt feelings and some wounding.”
Sutherland pointed out that they have “certainly reached the point within the second season” where they are going to see their romance tested. “They’re going to go through the hard times — such as relationships,” he detailed to Us. “But there is the danger that because of these disagreements, this tug of war and the realities of his work and what he needs … the danger is that they’ll fall out of love for each other.”
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Karl and Cassandra have to figure out their future despite the obstacles of everyday life. Fox viewers, however, shouldn’t expect new love interests to come in and create even more onscreen challenges for the fan favorite couple.
“I come from the land of love triangles. Every show I’ve ever done, it has had love triangles. I read this whole book which really looked into triangulation and love triangles. It made a lot of sense where in order to keep desire present — or the feeling of desire — it must never be completed,” Kreuk, who previously starred on Smallville, said. “But I love that we get to go into other emotions outside of desire. While that is interesting and it is full of tension and drama because it is so fraught, this allows us to really look at relationships and what they are.”
She continued: “There’s all these beautiful layers to Karl and Cassandra’s relationship that you just don’t get to see on television that much because we’re so caught in keeping that tension alive so that people will watch because it’s easier.”
Sutherland praised Murder in a Small Town for committing to making one central relationship successful in the long term, adding, “We’re lucky because this show is affording the space for those conversations.”
Murder in a Small Town airs on Fox Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
