From the minute Nathan (Lucas Bryant) came to Audrey’s (Emily Rose) rescue on that cliffside in the first episode of HAVEN five seasons ago, we all knew their destinies would be intertwined forever. There is an old proverb: “if save a life, it is yours” — and by rescuing Audrey, Nathan had claimed her life. This become more prophetic as each episode aired in HAVEN and the love-story of Nathan and Audrey became more intoxicating as we watched it blossom. It did not matter what Audrey’s real name was, what her real identity was, or even where place she came from — it was as if a fine string had been woven in the tapestry of time itself and across the universe pulling Nathan and Audrey together.
Credit goes to the fine writing on the show that created these characters and wrote stories enthralling viewers with their remarkable Trouble-filled journey. But even more credit goes to the actors Lucas Bryant and Emily Rose who brought such emotional resonance and heartfelt portrayal of the characters of Nathan Wuornos and Audrey Parker that we fell completely head-over-heads in love with them as Nathan and Audrey. For all its Troubles and supernaturally-infused and sometimes very creepy stories, the Audrey and Nathan love-story made the HAVEN world shine that much brighter. It made it addictive and a destination for appointment-television on Friday nights (and now Thursday nights). It did not matter when or where the show aired, the fans followed, for the passion on screen sparked a passion in fans that devotedly and obsessively followed, and the reward was five extraordinary seasons.
In an exclusive interview, star Lucas Bryant talked about bringing closure to the HAVEN story and all those terrifying Troubles, as well as previewing his new Canadian television series.
It must seem a bit weird talking about HAVEN since you wrapped filming the final episode nearly a year ago now.
LUCAS: [Laughs] It is. I’ve just been trying to jump-start my brain and going back through what we actually shot because last year was a whirlwind filming 26 episodes back-to-back.
That was crazy and incredibly ambitious to do that!
LUCAS: It was. It really was. I thought it was going to be a lot more difficult than it was. It went a lot soother and quicker and better than I expected it to.
Did it feel like you were ramping up for a really momentous ending for the show?
LUCAS: Yes, it did.
That had to feel great to know that you are leaving on a high note and everyone was so excited about it.
LUCAS: Totally. Throughout the course of the show I never knew where we were headed, and that time we did actually know where we were headed. We knew that we were ending with a really big bang.
That’s typical HAVEN-style. It is never going to go off quietly.
LUCAS: [Laughs] No. No whimpers off in the darkness.
Maybe you can tease: is there closure to the Troubles, or are those Troubles just going to be there forever?
LUCAS: I know that there is definitely closure for the fans. Is there closure for the Troubles? That is perhaps something you are going to have to wait and see, and also perhaps open to interpretation. But I know people will be shocked, moved, and hopefully satisfied as well.
Of course, after where the show left everyone hanging at the end of Season 5A, it looked like Duke (Eric Balfour) was not going to make it. But now he could miraculously make it and yet the rest of the world may not make it. So is Season 5B like doomsday scenario for the rest of the season? Where is the show going?
LUCAS: In many ways, it kind of is. As we open in Season 5B, it is an all new Haven. It was really exciting to read, it was very cool to shoot and it puts the characters in a whole new levels of danger.
With such high stakes coming up, everyone is going to be looking for something like a cure. Is that the quest of the season?
LUCAS: That’s the huge thrust of the season. We some really big clues and because of some new characters and their unlimited potential for both ruining everything and fixing everything, the characters start to uncover possibilities to make this whole thing go away. So as much as it is pretty devastating, there is great hope too.
Does Nathan’s particular Trouble (his inability to feel) come into play, or is it taking a back-burner at this point?
LUCAS: That is always the only thing that is going on for him. But does it come into play? Hmmm, good question. Let me think. No, it doesn’t really. But I’m probably just forgetting something.
Then that must have been easier for you: no having to remember to “not” feel things.
LUCAS: [Laughs] I was not getting shot or burnt or having to swim in very cold water. However, on a bigger level, Nathan’s Trouble and what he has to deal with for every moment makes him the man that he is and he is highly consequential this season. So, yes, it comes into play — just in a sort of indirect way.
Duke is not exactly Troubled, but he had the ability to remove Troubles and now it seems like he has unleashed them on everyone in Haven. Does that kind of put Duke and Nathan at odds for the rest of the season or are they back on good terms?
LUCAS: There is quite a back and forth again this season. Duke has done something that is almost unforgivable in many ways, but the depth of their love for each other is again evident this season as we move further along because no matter how far apart they go, they are still intimately connected.
Last season in Season 5A, there was the ability to play out the two different love stories where Duke got involved with Mara (Emily Rose) — whether that was really love or not — and then Nathan and Audrey were pursuing their relationship. So will Nathan and Duke be vying for the same girl again or has the show moved on from that?
LUCAS: There is an element of that. But it’s not like double-dates because — well, that would just be weird — and I don’t want to tell you how much Mara figures into the next season.
As you remember it, what was the best part of working with Eric Balfour on HAVEN?
LUCAS: Oh my god! His voice. His hair. At this point we’re all fully — well, something you can’t quantify. We worked together for five years on the show. When I went to school in Canada, you went to high school for five years — because we were all about over-educating our citizens. [Laughs] So working on HAVEN was like the length of a high school experience. That is a long time. So the best thing about shooting with Eric or with Emily or with Adam– we are just family at this point. Just everybody. It was just the most amazing group of people and I think we all felt and realized and appreciated how very lucky we were knowing that the final long season might very well be the last.
So it was a little bittersweet in that you were enjoying every minute of it and yet feeling like “this can’t be the end!”
LUCAS: Yeah, absolutely. It’s really exciting to come to a conclusion and to work towards an end. Thank god that happened rather than the other terrible scenario of just sort of getting a phone call one day and having the rug pulled out from under you and never getting to finish the story. So, thank God, we did get to work towards an end and shoot an end — and we got to finish shooting with each other. I was very grateful for that.
What do you think will be HAVEN’s legacy? What to do foresee people will think about it for years to come?
LUCAS: Good question. [Laughs] Definitely Nathan’s wardrobe has made an impact on pop culture and society in general. That’s highly important moving forward. What is the show’s legacy? That’s a pretty good question. Other than Nathan’s clothes, hmmm . . . I hope that these characters — their relationships and their love for each other — is remembered and lives on. That is something that turned people on to the show in first place. I hope.
You are right: it was always about the love. We could always feel it, that you were all enjoying what you were doing.
LUCAS: Yeah, absolutely! Secondly, I think the two things combined: that Nova Scotia backdrop and these weird characters in this world really gave people something that was unique.
Audrey and Nathan, are we going to be rooting for them this season? Is that even a possibility given the circumstances they are under?
LUCAS: Are we going to be rooting for them?! We better frickin’ be! Yeah, definitely. We will continue to root for Audrey and Nathan, and even louder as things progress.
We have been teased and learned that Lucy (Emily Rose) makes an appearance prominently this season. What was it like working with that character, Audrey’s other former self?
LUCAS: She makes like a very — I hope I’m not giving anything away — she makes a very heavy appearance. So working with Lucy was heavy. But, again, it’s always a joy any time Emily Rose is wearing one of Audrey’s personalities — to see her in that brain, in that hair style and wardrobe choices. She inhabits each of those in fun ways. It was a real pleasure to see her do that again. But, specifically, Lucy — as you will see — was some pretty rough stuff. So it wasn’t exactly a fun experience. It was a hard one.
For Nathan, do you think he falls a little bit with each of Audrey’s incarnations, or does he just have an attachment to Audrey primarily?
LUCAS: That’s an interesting question. We talked about that a lot. I think he does fall in love with each of her incarnations. Because, in many ways, in his heart it is always her. Ultimately, Audrey is the one — and Audrey is present in all of these women. So it is a very strange, and hopefully very non-creepy love for all of them, but Audrey is the one.
It is interesting because Audrey and Nathan’s love story transcends time and also seems to transcend identity.
LUCAS: It does. When I think about the reality of their situation and the Colorado Kid and all of that, it is just kind of a weird one, isn’t it?
It was a mind-boggler at first. But each time they presented the next twist, you just had to kind of just roll with it. What was it like finally getting a chance to direct an episode on HAVEN, the upcoming episode “Enter Sandman”?
LUCAS: What can I tell you? It was the most incredible experience I could have asked for. It was really just the coolest thing in the world. [Laughs] I basically spent three weeks trying not to cry from pure joy coupled with sheer terror. It could not have been a better experience. I loved it. I was so incredibly supported from Shawn [Piller] and Stephanie, and the script was specifically tailored to help me make my directorial debut, which Shernold Edwards wrote. It is one of my favorite episodes. It was beautiful. I was so supported. Our DP Eric Cayla was incredible. He is such a beautiful man too, such a great mentor in that situation. The whole crew really backed me up. So I could have just completely fallen flat on my face and things would have been okay because everyone would have stepped up to help me up. Thankfully, I did not do that. It was an amazing, amazing experience. To get to do that with people that I had grown to know so well and love so much and who I could feel just cheering for me and loving me the whole way through, it was really overwhelming. Then on top that, I got a really incredible character-script along with fantastical elements. It was really an actor’s story and it was also really open to doing some really neat visual interpretation as well because of the fantastical elements that Shernold had put in there — which I cannot tell you about yet. So it was really a gift. Then I had an amazing guest cast with Rossif Sutherland, who was a guest actor in that episode, and an old friend of mine Tim Beresford came to play as well. Things could not have lined up more perfectly. It was just such an incredible experience.
Would you do it again, star in something and try to direct yourself in it at the same time?
LUCAS: In a heart beat! I loved it. I will definitely continue to do that when I can. [Laughs] Now the part where I am in it as well, that was not ideal. I am such a terrible actor and I really had to kick my own ass. Like, I pulled myself aside and I gave myself a talking to. No, all kidding aside, that was really hard. Thankfully, they wrote for me and tried to keep me out of the episode largely, and the parts that I was in were contained to one location. So I had a number of days where I got to just be the director and I didn’t have to go back and forth in scenes from between being a director and also being in it.
What are you going to miss most about portraying Nathan Wuornos?
LUCAS: Probably just getting to drive his truck.
But you can drive trucks again. There are lots of trucks in the world.
LUCAS: But not that specific truck because no one in their right mind will ever let that thing on the road.
What was wrong with the truck? Was it possessed?
LUCAS: I mean legally. No one in their right mind will legally let that thing on the road. What was wrong with that truck?! What was not wrong with that truck?! If you could get that truck to run for more than 40 feet without blowing something, it was a good day.
Sounds like it got a little “Troubled” during its time filming the show.
LUCAS: [Laughs] It was an incredibly “Troubled” Bronco. Now, I loved it. I continue to love it, and if the Bronco reads this, I’m sorry — it’s nothing personal.
I’m sure there could be another Bronco one day.
LUCAS: But it would have none of the gum that Emily and I put up under the dash, and to would have none of the pieces of the sides from our first season — or all of Nathan’s jackets in the trunk, apparently.
Nathan always had that classic long-stare. He would look out across the distance like he was thinking so deeply. Is something you use in all your roles or is that something you just brought to the Nathan Wuornos character? Where did that come from?
LUCAS: [Laughs] That comes from a lack of brain activity. No, that’s him. He was a still guy. He was a stoic guy. That’s a bit of his cowboy.
I’m going to miss that: Nathan just standing there by the Bronco or staring across vistas. It was just such a romantic notion of the lone wolf out there, holding down the law.
LUCAS: That’s very nice of you to say. Thank you.
As you are moving on from HAVEN, you are obviously still very busy and working. What have you been up to? What’s next?
LUCAS: I am working right now on a Canadian show that is called: SHOOT THE MESSENGER.
Is that a supernatural show?
LUCAS: It is not a supernatural show. But I am trying to bring supernatural elements to it. Just kidding. It’s totally based in reality. It is from Sudz Sutherland, who I met on HAVEN and directed a bunch of episodes in the last season. He and I really hit it off and here we are getting to work together.
You probably didn’t even have to audition. He just called you up and said, “Let’s go!”
LUCAS: That’s right. I was totally in. I’ve been working on that for the last month and it’s very cool.
What kind of show is it?
LUCAS: It’s an investigative journalist drama.
Sounds like your days of long-starring may not be over yet.
LUCAS: [Laughs] No, I’m definitely going to do some staring in this one.
Does it have an intense dramatic feel to it or does it have some lighter moments?
LUCAS: It’s got a bit of everything. But it’s quite intense. These characters stumble on a case that unfolds to be a huge conspiracy. It involves the police and politics. It’s a big dramatic thing. The writing is excellent and there is great humor in it as well.
What was the appeal of jumping out of a supernatural world into a very serious investigative journalist storyline?
LUCAS: One of the neat things about this show is it is shot in Toronto and it takes place in Toronto. A lot of shows that are shot in Toronto are standing in to be some place in the States or some place else that is ever named. This is actually shooting in the city for the city and the story is topical to the city. I am interested in talking about things that are happening rather than the 470 foot monster at the end of the block — for a little bit.
Sounds like you are portraying another crusader, just a different kind of crusader. You must be drawn to those kinds of roles.
LUCAS: [Laughs] I can’t help it. I’m just that guy.
You want to be that hero.
LUCAS: Hey, if that is how people are seeing me . . .
You always get to be the hero of your own story, it is just a matter of how you want to portray it.
LUCAS: This is true.
To see where all the Troubles lead and if there will be a happily-ever-after for Audrey and Nathan at the end of the HAVEN rainbow, be sure to tune in for the Season 5B premiere of HAVEN on Thursday, October 8th at 10:00 pm on Syfy as the final 13 episodes rush toward the HAVEN series finale in December 2015.

SENIOR ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER | Tiffany covers events such as San Diego Comic-Con, WonderCon and press junkets, as well as covering events at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills. She has a great love for television and believes that entertainment is a world of wondrous adventures that deserves to be shared and explored. Tiffany is one of the newest members to the prestigious Television Critics Association and is happy to be able to share her passion for television shows with an even wider audience of fans and her fellow critics..