Chad Michael Murray And Scott Patterson Reunite For the First Time Since ‘Gilmore Girls’

I’m a self-described Gilmore Girls addict and can cherrypick my favourite episodes for anyone who asks. A-Tisket-A-Tasket is one, so it’s obvious that I’m Team Jess. I was devo when it wrapped up in 2007 (even though Season 7 was kinda terrible) so when the Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life miniseries was released in 2016, I binged the entire thing in one sitting. 

When I heard that Scott Patterson (Luke Danes) and Chad Michael Murray (Tristan Dugray) were reuniting for a brand-new show, my interest was piqued. Their new show, Sullivan’s Crossing, doesn’t seem at all like Gilmore Girls in the first few minutes. I’d compare it more to Grey’s Anatomy – with hotshot neurosurgeon Maggie Sullivan swanning her away around a fancy Boston Hospital. 

Stick with it though, because Maggie’s life crumbles before her, and she moves to live with her estranged dad Sully in a small town called Sullivan’s Crossing. Yep, casting Scott and Chad was a stroke of genius, because the show is basically set in a Canadian Stars Hollow. 

Scott, who plays Sully, and Chad Michael Murray, who plays Cal, haven’t worked together since Season 1 of Gilmore Girls, since Chad’s character Tristan was sent off to military school – he had nabbed the lead in One Tree Hill – and didn’t come back. 

Scott didn’t keep in touch with Chad after he left to star on One Tree Hill, but they have a familiar, easy chemistry on the show. “I hadn’t seen Chad since he was 18 years old on the set of Gilmore Girls, and then I just remember talking to him on set a couple of times. He was a confident kid,” Scott recalls. “When I found out that he was going to play Cal I thought, well, there’s going to be a familiar face on set, that’s going to be nice.”

After filming Season 1, Scott has only praise for his co-star. “[Chad] knows more about what to do in front of a camera than probably anybody on the set. That guy knows how to be a movie star. So, I watch him, and I learn,” Scott adds. “He exists in front of a camera without really being aware that the camera’s there… I mean, thank god for Chad, really.”

Scott Patterson and Chad Michael Murray in Sullivan’s Crossing. Image credit: Stan, Sullivan’s Crossing

What are the similarities and differences between Sullivan’s Crossing and Gilmore Girls?

Similarities with Stars Hollow and Sullivan’s Crossing.

Stars Hollow, the small town in Gilmore Girls, is a character in itself. I love the yearly festivals like the 24-Hour Dance-A-Thon, the dramatic Town Meetings and the fact that everybody knows each other’s business. 

The town of Sullivan’s Crossing, set in Nova Scotia, captures that vintage small-town feel easily, along with some beautiful scenery. In the first episode, the residents are seen socialising at a town campfire, with Sully cooking up some burgers. Of course, Maggie sticks out like a sore thumb, but I think we all know that she’s gonna settle into the slower pace of life eventually.

As a TV-rarity, the series is actually filmed in the place it’s set – with the cast setting up camp in Nova Scotia for months.  

Morgan Kohan and Chad Michael Murray in Sullivan’s Crossing. Image credit: Stan, Sullivan’s Crossing

“[Nova Scotia] is magical… it is so picturesque. The air is so fresh and clean. The waterfront is magic. The people are so kind… it felt like home,” Chad says. “I would love to go back [to Nova Scotia] and do a good six years or raise [my] kids there… I’d love to be there for a good, long run.”

Scott echoes this, saying that Sullivan’s Crossing has been in his character’s family since the late 1800s. “It is built near tribal, indigenous lands. He is a pillar of the community because he’s so welcoming and so respectful of the indigenous peoples,” he adds. 

Difference in the pace of Gilmore Girls and Sullivan’s Crossing.

Gilmore Girls is known for being FAST. It’s witty, filled with pop culture references, and the speed at which Lorelai and Rory Gilmore speak is a feat in itself. Scott explains that Sullivan’s Crossing differs in that area. 

“If you open a Gilmore script, it’s 80 pages of blank ink, all dialogue. So, it’s nothing but memorisation,” he says. “I’m not saying there’s very little acting allowed, or behaviour allowed, there’s just less. And after I read Sullivan’s Crossing, I did a Zoom meeting with Roma Roth, who adapted the show… the writing was spare. It felt a bit ‘Okay, I trust you, as an actor, to put meat on the bone’.”

“So, she gave me a chance to do what I do, which is to be – hopefully – truthful and genuine. And that’s what really drew me to it.”

Chad Michael Murray, Morgan Kohan and Scott Patterson. Image credit: Stan, Sullivan’s Crossing

Strained parental relationships in Gilmore Girls and Sullivan’s Crossing.

Gilmore Girls’ premise revolves around Lorelai repairing her relationship with her parents, after being unable to find the money to send her daughter, Rory, to private school. It’s a theme that runs through the series, and though Lorelai and Rory are best friends for most of the show, their relationship also becomes fractured when Rory drops out of Yale. 

I can see a similar theme running through Sullivan’s Crossing, as Maggie and her father Sully are slightly uncomfortable around each other. There are clues during the first episode that Maggie hasn’t kept in touch with any of her friends or the locals while she’s been living in the city, even though she grew up considering one of the residents as her “second mum”. 

Tom Jackson and Morgan Kohan in Sullivan’s Crossing. Image credit: Stan, Sullivan’s Crossing

“After 15 years [Maggie] comes back to Sullivan’s Crossing to attempt to figure out the rest of her life. His view of Maggie, when she arrives, is fraught with distrust,” Scott tells us. “His wife divorced him, and his daughter Maggie kept her distance. There’s a lot of bitterness.”

The show has perfectly captured that small-town feel and transports me back to the early ‘00s, in a good way. It’s not a complete replacement for Gilmore Girls, but it’s a good start. 

You can stream every episode of Sullivan’s Crossing only on Stan now.
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Image credits: Stan, Sullivan’s Crossing