This article by current editor Jennifer Griffin originally appeared in ScreenSpy Magazine (the online publication she created and directed for over 12 years), on Aug. 29, 2014.
Haven returns to Syfy for an expanded 26-episode “freaky and dramatic” fifth season on September 11, according to show stars Emily Rose and Lucas Bryant.
The season ahead is set to pick up straight after the events of the season 4 cliffhanger which saw Nathan (Lucas Bryant), Duke (Eric Balfour) and Audrey (Emily Rose) finally banishing destructive Troublemaker William (Colin Ferguson) from their lives, albeit at a terrible cost.
Is Audrey gone forever? Who is Mara? What fresh drama will she bring to Nathan’s doorstep and what is this strange new Trouble that’s supernaturally silencing the town’s denizens?
ScreenSpy sat down yesterday with Emily and Lucas to talk about what’s to come. Full highlights from our call follow below.
Nathan is desperate to see Audrey – the real Audrey – again. How is her latest incarnation, Mara, going to stir things up in Haven this season?
Lucas Bryant: First of all, Emily Rose who’s sitting next to me –
Emily Rose: Don’t embarrass me, Lucas!
Lucas Bryant: [Laughing] – is incredible this season, exceptionally so in the role of Mara. It’s been a total treat to watch her, except for the fact she kicks my ass all over the town. So that’s a new development.
Emily Rose: Didn’t I do that as Audrey?
Lucas Bryant: Not physically. Just mentally.
Emily Rose: Oh that’s right. I kicked your mental bottom.
Lucas Bryant: For Nathan this [season] is a nightmare. I can’t really tell you all the things that Mara is capable of, but she is a force.
Emily Rose: She was a lot of fun to play. Audrey has been in this melancholy, dire state. So to play someone who is on top of things, so to speak and has sheer joy and delight in how she relates to everyone around her was a real pleasure.
It’s always fun when you take these normal relationships and then you mix them up. It creates a really fun environment on set. It was a blast. However there are definitely moments in this season where she made me really uncomfortable. I didn’t know from that one last sentence they gave me in the cave last year that Mara was going to be such a big main character of this year. It was a really pleasant surprise and really enjoyable and a cool challenge.
Pictured: (l-r) Emily Rose as Audrey Parker, Lucas Bryant as Nathan Wuornos, Adam Copeland as Dwight Hendrickson, Eric Balfour as Duke Crocker — (Photo by: Steven Wilkie/Syfy)
What can we expect to see from Mara’s interactions with Nathan, and will we see ‘Real Audrey’ again any time soon?
Emily Rose: We don’t know if Audrey comes back. We don’t know how and if she comes back. We haven’t seen Audrey since the end of season 3. In season 4 she was a Lexi/Audrey hybrid. That whole hunt for Audrey 1.0 so to speak … I really miss that Audrey for some reason. I think there’s a strong pull for viewers wanting to see her again.
Lucas Bryant: Any time that Audrey is used as bait or hope for Nathan he is a sucker, It’s true. It’s sometimes frustrating his undying kind of bang your head against the wall devotion to her, but I think that’s also one of his most noble traits. And hopefully we’ll get to see some of that “suckerness” pay off by the end of the season.
For Nathan it’s all about the same thing. It’s about getting him some more Audrey Parker [laughing].
On the structure of the new season (13 episodes in 2014 and another 13 in 2015 with smaller stories played out in 2 episode blocks rather than 1)
Lucas Bryant: We knew coming into this season that we would be shooting double episode blocks. Instead of having to deal with the Troubles so quickly and succinctly every week we had more time to explore the effects that those troubles have on our characters. That format [A 13 episode arc followed by a second 13 episode arc] gave us longer-format storytelling.
Emily Rose: It was nice to take a breather and not necessarily have everything wrap up so quickly, but it did get very confusing in the preparation of it because you have two episodes in your head that you’re currently shooting while you’re prepping for the next two coming up. In that way too, although it was confusing, it was nice too because you did get to know big chunks of the season. At any given point you’d know four episodes. You knew more fully where the longer story arc was going. We haven’t had that advantage as much in previous seasons.
On this season’s end game and Lucas’ directorial debut
Emily Rose: Currently Lucas knows more than I do because he’s getting ready to shoot his directorial debut in this second half of the season. I’m super stoked. I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas morning.
I don’t know why, but I keep asking “So what are you doing in Director Land today? How was Prep? What’s it like? What’s going on? Do you have your script yet?” It’s very exciting!
As far as what we’re going to get at the end of the season? The writers are always very reluctant to give us any of that information, but if you want to get any spoilers, Lucas knows the most. You’ll have to get them out of him!
Lucas Bryant: But it’s only like another inch! I don’t have any keys to the kingdom.
Emily Rose: The writers have said that they know the final frame of the season. They know the end of it, but they haven’t told us ever what that is.
Lucas Bryant: Emily says it’s gonna be like Christmas morning? She doesn’t even have a clue what I have in store for her! I am going to take all those years of biting my tongue and it’s all going to come out! [Laughing].
No really, It is going to be like Christmas morning. I have gifts planned for every morning.
It’s something I have wanted to do for a long time, and talked to the people here about making that possibility a reality. Thankfully it just worked out this season. I’ve been shadowing directors here for the past couple of seasons and seeing that side of it.
Everyone has made it work out for me, and it’s coming soon. We’re going to get right into it when we come back from hiatus.
I don’t quite yet know what the episode I’m going to be doing is like but I have some ideas and so far it’s hugely exciting and totally inspiring. I’m jazzed.
On the possibility of Nathan/Mara Love Scenes
Emily Rose: [to Lucas] Well you did make those pancakes last season!
Lucas Bryant: Right! There is some more steam this season. Specifically, I’m not going to tell you who it’s between but I will tell you there is steam. There is heat. There is residual steam that comes from that heat exchange.
Emily Rose: There is a lot of steam, and a lot of different combinations of steam between different people.
Would Audrey forgive Nathan if he made pancakes with Mara?
Emily Rose: Well Nathan made pancakes with Sara!
Lucas Bryant: Woah now! That never happened!
Emily Rose: That DID happen!
Lucas Bryant: Not pancakes!
Emily Rose: What then? Waffles? What did they have in the 50’s?
Lucas Bryant: I’m just gonna shut up.
Emily Rose: Yeah, you do that.
Lucas Bryant: If Nathan were to make pancakes with Mara there would be a really good reason!
Emily Rose: A really good reason. That’s what they all say!
Emily Rose as Audrey Parker. Image © Syfy
We had some time-travel in Haven. Is there any period in history you’d like to visit or revisit?
Emily Rose: I’ve always wanted to do the eighteen hundreds! I’ve always wanted to do a Western with petticoats and horses. That has been my dream.
Lucas Bryant: Emily just wants horses! I don’t have a specific time I’d like to visit but any time we’ve done time travel, like that 1955 episode or that episode last year with Haven in an alternate reality, any time we travel outside of what we’ve come to know as Haven, those episodes have been my favorites to preform in and watch. I’m up for any time period really.
Emily Rose: I’m only up for the eighteen hundreds! [Laughing].
Supernatural on the CW is now entering its tenth season. Do you see Haven going the distance?
Lucas Bryant: When I first got up here and got into the Bronco, I said “You know, after season 8 I’m buying this thing.” and everyone started laughing and shook their heads like that was a completely ridiculous thought. And now here we are.
By the end of this season, we’ll have the equivalent of six seasons worth of material out there. Statistically, it’s outrageous.
We’re very lucky and blessed to have been supported this long. I would be honored to be able to go for double digits.
Emily Rose: It’s interesting. To be honest and frank with everyone, it’s really the fans who determine that for us 100%.
We’re a cable show and all of our contracts have expiration dates on them. As much as we love the characters … Do our characters have the chemistry to continue on? I actually think that’s something that our show does have. With our friendships and ability to work together in crazy conditions for so long, I have no doubt that if it relied purely on chemistry and relationships it would happen.
Adam Copeland has been a great addition to our show, not to mention all the guest stars, Richard and John and everybody. We really know how to operate as a family up here. So if it was based purely on chemistry and how everyone gets along then it wouldn’t be an issue. But because it’s based on numbers and ratings and all of that stuff … well it will be interesting to see how the fans turn out for these next couple of seasons and see how the Network responds to those numbers.
We’re all holding our breaths. We don’t know. Is this the end, or just the beginning to a different chapter? Technically, like every show it just depends on the audience.
Can you tease any new Troubles ahead this season?
Lucas Bryant: Somehow they keep coming up with totally off the wall stuff.
Emily Rose: This season has a few of my favorite ones I think we’ve ever had. One of them effects our dear friend Eric Balfour’s character Duke Crocker. That’s earlier on, and is really really funny in my opinion.
Then another one effects everyone in the town, and I can’t really be specific about that but it’s pretty pretty funny. So as dramatic and freaky as this season is, what I do like about the Troubles is that they don’t always take themselves too seriously, and provide a lot of levity for the show. I can’t obviously state what they are.
Lucas Bryant: I think we can say more about last one. It’s was definitely my favorite to play this year. I can’t tell you specifically what happens but there is a kind of Freaky Friday style Trouble. And if you know anything about Freaky Friday you’ll know it’s a reference to a movie where some people got trapped in each other’s bodies.
Emily Rose: It’s really really well done and it’s really funny.
Haven returns to Syfy for a fifth season from Thursday, September 11 at 10 pm ET/PT on Syfy.