‘Murder in a Small Town’: Rossif Sutherland and Creator Ian Weir on That Proposal, Season 3 Hopes (Exclusive)

[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for Murder in a Small Town Season 2’s finale, “Nightshade.”]

After weeks of digging into cold cases that she suspected were connected, Cassandra Lee (Kristin Kreuk) found herself in hot water with a serial killer in the Season 2 finale of Murder in a Small Town. The librarian-turned-interim mayor of Gibsons discovered that the newest case of the day — the murder of a wealthy man who’d had an affair with his housekeeper and was considering divorcing his wife — matched with other holy vengeance-style killings she’d been looking into, where a specific flower was always involved.

As Karl (Rossif Sutherland) worked to investigate the case, he asked Cassandra and Holly (Dakota Guppy) to pause on their own pursuit. However, Cassandra, worrying that the killer might’ve nabbed Karl’s daughters, hunted the murderer down to her farm. Fortunately, Karl, being the excellent detective that he has always has been, was right behind her and showed up in time to avoid Cassandra becoming another casualty of this violent vigilante.

His reaction to Cassandra being in immediate danger was, simply, one of panic, and in the aftermath, Karl popped the question to Cassandra. That big-deal proposal came, though, after Cassandra had just told him she needed them both to open up more — particularly him, with the mystery of his father still looming large.

So what does this cliffhanger mean for Karl and Cassandra’s future, and what might happen if the show returns for Season 3? TV Insider caught up with both Rossif Sutherland and series creator Ian Weir to find out that and more (in separate interviews, combined here for clarity).

Obviously, Cassandra goes against Karl’s wishes by going out to the farm, but she does so only after trying to get to him, and then on to protect his daughters. He seems to forgive her, but do you think that’s something that he can move on from that easily? 

Rossif Sutherland: He’s gonna have to, but he has his fears and his concerns, and for good reason. I mean, the person that he loves finds herself in harm’s way. He’s in harm’s way every day because of his job. Does he make mistakes? Of course he does. But it’s his job. Ultimately, he may disagree with what happened that day. You can’t disagree with the fact that she was so smart that she figured it out. He was wrong in the sense of saying, “This is a cop’s job. Leave it to the professionals” — but “leave it to the professionals” in the sense of trying to confront somebody who’s violent. But he’ll forgive her. I think what’s really left at the end of that sequence, again, it’s that reminder that, “My gosh, again, I almost lost her,” and, “What happens to my life if I don’t have her?” And I think that’s why he proposes. It’s because it’s clear to him that, just on a reactive animal level, that, “I can’t lose her.” It’s clear how much he loves her.

Right before the proposal, she talks about wanting more conversations and wants to learn about Karl’s dad. First of all, is that something you hope to explore in a third season? And what do you want to know about Karl’s dad?

Sutherland: Well, I do know. I mean, we get it, he’s been a looming figure in Karl’s life, and his father was absent for most of his childhood. And there are reasons for that, but he judges his father and doesn’t want his father to be part of his life. But as would be revealed, should we get another season, is the fact that sometimes the truth is more complicated than just right and wrong. And just because you may disagree with why somebody has chosen to do something with their life doesn’t make them a criminal. And in a sense, maybe there’s compassion to be found. And I think as these two characters — one in his late 40s, the other in his 80s — are at this place in their life where we’re definitely past the halfway mark, and life is precious. What are they gonna do with the rest of their time?

Do you think it’s right to move to that level if they still have those complications of communication? 

Sutherland: No, it’s not right if you’re being perfectly reasonable, but I don’t think he’s being reasonable. I don’t think it’s about that. I think he just got really, really scared. I think it’s very clear that he’s in love with her. I think it’s clear that he wants to spend the rest of his days with her and have her be part of his daughters’ lives, and this is the language that he has. This is, “Will you marry me? Please just stay with me. I want to close this deal. Let’s just be done with this, and I want to spend the rest of my days with you.” That’s what he’s saying. Does it need to be a wedding ring? Does it need to be all of those things? No. But he’s scared.

What do you hope to explore in the aftermath of this proposal in Season 3?

Ian Weir: In the third season, were we to have one, I would love to see what that next step looks like and what that movement towards deeper commitment would look like. Cassandra is someone who has spent her adult life basically avoiding intense commitment, romantically. How does she respond to that? She and Holly get along like a house on fire. That’s one thing when it’s somebody you see every day or two. It would be another thing if all of a sudden, Holly had a stepmom. How would Cassandra respond to being in that role? And Steph as well. I think those areas, I would love to get a chance to explore in Season 3.

Spoiler alert! I really don’t see us as a show, if we were able to go on for a third season, I can’t imagine breaking Karl and Cassandra up. I don’t know what the show would be if they had broken up. So I don’t think I’d be interested in playing that as a culmination for a story. But certainly, looking at the levels of communication, the levels of trust, the levels of commitment, all of those, I would be really excited to get a chance to explore.

Sutherland: As far as the relationship between Karl and Cassandra, it’s the culmination of a season where, at first, they had a common enemy, and so it brought them together, and then they had different priorities, and so they started butting heads. All the while, Cassandra has developed a relationship with my daughter and there’s this sort of enveloping feeling that we’re going towards building a family, and there’s a future, and Karl is doing something that he’s never done before, which is coming out of his shell and breaking his silence, and so it’s that decision of whether or not they’re going to stay together. And I think the conclusion is that they want to take this further. And it’s to that place of commitment where we may have disagreements. We may have days when we raise our voices, and we have fights, and if it had been earlier in a relationship, we’d choose to walk away out of pride. But they’re going to start really truly building… I’m guessing they’re going to live together. They’ll share a roof and a life. And she’ll be a stepmom, and then there are all the secrets of each other’s pasts, which will come to light. That’s what I see for them.

We got to know a lot about the deputies this season. But one that was introduced that we haven’t learned much about was Darby. He came in in Episode 9, and I guess he was the night guy. If the show continues, do you want to kind of dig into him a little bit more?

Weir: Yes, he’s certainly one of the characters we’d like to look at… If we had a third season, there might be a new officer or two, just to keep things fresh and shake them up a bit, and I think there’s more and more we can discover about Layla Jackson, Bethany Brown’s character…. We started exploring what’s going on for her personally… I think there’s more we would love to explore in that regard as well.

There’s a moment we see that Layla is going through a sobriety backslide. Karl seems to call her out, but he doesn’t. What went into that decision of how he deals with that: He offers a hand, seems to know what’s wrong, but doesn’t force the issue. 

Sutherland: This is the boss that he is. I think he sees through people. I think he recognizes what some people need. And in that moment, she needed care and not somebody who is going to be righteous and point her in a direction, but ultimately, there to hold her hand as a good father would, a good friend would. I ultimately see in the character Bethany plays, Bethany Brown, so much strength and character. And I trust that she’s going to find her way, but she has my shoulder to lean on.

With Cassandra becoming mayor, it seems like there would be a resolution to the staffing issues that Karl’s been facing, right? 

Weir: One would certainly hope. Although if the police chief is the boyfriend of the mayor, all of a sudden, a whole bunch of other things become fraught and difficult because, especially in a situation where there has been such controversy over Christy Holman’s family dealings, how would Karl and Cassandra negotiate that? I’d be fascinated to explore that. I think Karl would be quite clear-eyed about that. I think Cassandra, not that she’s not highly intelligent and knows exactly how these things work… it would be interesting for her to be in a situation where people were questioning her motives. I don’t think that’s something that she would necessarily handle very well, the sense of being doubted, being questioned. Whereas Karl is a police chief. I think Karl was absolutely used to people doubting him every step of the way.

It seems like there’s also more thread to pull out with Cassandra’s mother because that’s kind of an open end, right? 

Weir: Yes. Towards the end of the season, it is hinted very strongly that Cassandra’s mom is potentially dealing with a health crisis. And in the third season, were we get a chance to explore that, it would be fascinating to see how Cassandra deals with that. She and her mom have never been close, but it’s one thing to have kind of a guarded relationship with a parent; it’s another thing to simultaneously confront the fact that your parent is dealing with a life crisis, with a serious illness. And I think that could take Cassandra to some really interesting places… a leg of the journey that we haven’t seen her undertake before.

Lastly… I’m wondering what you think about it, for a fan name: the MISTers? We’ve gotta have one.

Weir: I love it. That’s great.

Murder in a Small Town, Fox