When does “Sullivan’s Crossing” season 5 come out? Everything we know — including whether Sully could return

The complicated love story of Maggie and Cal will continue in season 5.

Key Points

• Sullivan’s Crossing has been renewed for a fifth season.
• The soapy series follows the tumultuous romance between Maggie Sullivan and Cal Jones.
• Scott Patterson’s return as Sully remains uncertain.

Sullivan’s Crossing, the hit CW series adapted from Robyn Carr’s novels, has received the green light for a fifth season.

The soapy Canadian drama follows Morgan Kohan’s Maggie Sullivan, a neurosurgeon who heads back to her hometown of Sullivan’s Crossing and ends up falling for a mysterious man named Cal Jones (Chad Michael Murray).

But Maggie’s new life is completely upended in season 3 when the estranged husband (Marcus Rosner) she’d been hiding from Cal suddenly reveals himself, destabilizing the relationship they’ve built. What’s more, that ex-husband is trying to win Maggie back.

Unlike the previous seasons, season 5 of Sullivan’s Crossing will reportedly not move forward with creator and showrunner Roma Roth in those roles. As reported by Deadline, Roth will step into an executive producer role, while writer-producer Floyd Kane will take over as showrunner.

Ahead, Entertainment Weekly breaks down everything we know so far about the upcoming season of Sullivan’s Crossing.

How did Sullivan’s Crossing season 4 end?

Season 4 follows the aftermath of the shock revelation in season 3 that Maggie has been hiding her ex-husband, Liam, from Cal. Though Liam claims to only be in town to finalize their divorce, pretty soon he’s trying to win back his estranged wife. Maggie had left him after thinking he’d abandoned her, but he was actually being held hostage while working as a war journalist.

Maggie finds herself stuck in a difficult love triangle, and she is torn between her genuine affections for both Liam and Cal. In the season 4 finale, Maggie ultimately decides that Cal and Sullivan’s Crossing are where she belongs, and she no longer wishes to retreat to her past. Still, Cal hasn’t quite moved past Maggie lying to him about Liam.

Though the two are still on shaky ground, Maggie ends up making a sacrifice in her career for Cal by taking the blame for Ben Nelson, who is facing prison for endangering his younger sister, Tracy, after she suffered their mother’s abandonment. When Cal realizes what Maggie did, he understands that the love they share is something he’s not going to let go of.

Cal and Maggie reconcile, and Cal proposes to her. But just before she’s able to say “I do,” Ben’s younger sister, Tracy (Emerson MacNeil), shows up and asks the couple to take her in, leaving Maggie’s answer to Cal’s question up in the air.

Discussing the season with Entertainment Weekly, Kohan admitted that she felt pressure to get the love triangle dynamic right. “You want the love triangle to really be, ‘Oh God, it could go either way.’ And understand why Maggie’s so conflicted about it too,” she said.

Speaking with PEOPLE, Murray revealed that a lot of thought had gone into the proposal scene.

“That proposal was a monster debate. It was such a large conversation for many, many, many moons with everybody from the top down. I think one of the things for me is I thought it was important that Cal draw a line in the sand because being walked all over is not a good example of how to function in life, period. For anyone — man, woman, doesn’t matter who you are.”

He continued, “At some point you have to draw a line in the sand and take care of yourself. So Cal did that and we remedied the scenario, but, I mean, there was multiple different versions of that scene, to be completely honest, from her being the one to do it to me being the one. I definitely had a large conversation with a lot of people to make sure that we did our best.”

What will Sullivan’s Crossing season 5 be about?

While there is no official synopsis or summary for season 5 yet, that hasn’t stopped the Sullivan’s Crossing cast from talking about what they’re hoping to see in the story’s next chapter. In an interview with PEOPLE, Murray explained that he’s hopeful for Cal and Maggie’s relationship moving forward.

“I want to see a lot of unity,” he said. “I want to see a lot of team play between Cal and Maggie. I want the obstacles to be on the outside of them and for them to take everything on as a team. That’s what I want, because I want to see that relationship blossom and be a good example of how people can handle outside influences as a team versus when there’s something on the outside.”

Meanwhile, Kohan feels that the show could move into exploring conflicts within Maggie’s friendships, since much of the series has already focused on her family and romantic relationships.

“I really did enjoy the family side of things because there’s so much history built in there whereas a romantic [relationship], you’re working in a little bit of a shorter timeline,” she told EW. “In terms of exploring [new conflict], I think friendships. You don’t see too many friendship breakups or conflicts and how people get through because we all talk, we all have our breakups, our heartbreaks in a romantic way, but the friendship stuff can be really, really tricky.”

Will Scott Patterson be in season 5 of Sullivan’s Crossing?

Scott Patterson’s exit from Sullivan’s Crossing at the end of season 3 marked the first major shake-up for the series. Patterson had been part of the main cast, playing Maggie’s estranged father, Harry “Sully” Sullivan.

When confirming that Patterson’s Sully would not be returning in season 4, showrunner Roma Roth said in a statement: “Season 3 of Sullivan’s Crossing ended with Sully leaving for Ireland, beginning a new chapter in his life. Season 4 picks up the next day, with Sully still overseas. While he isn’t physically present in this season, the character remains an important part of the world with the potential to be included in future seasons should that align with the ongoing creative.”

However, Patterson took to social media to provide his own explanation, which he said was due to “creative differences.”

In a Facebook post, he wrote, “The creative differences were becoming untenable and I just sadly realized that the show was not something that I could agree to continue.” In regard to Roth’s statement, Patterson countered, “It’s unfortunate that it is now being implied that they moved on from me/Sully when the fact is the complete opposite, and those who sadly already have spoken out are also fully aware of this fact, and yet chose to say otherwise.”

While Sully ended season 3 promising that he would return, it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anytime soon.

Reflecting on Sully’s departure and what it means for her character in July 2026, Kohan told EW, “It shifts things for Maggie. It changes her sense of grounding at the Crossing, too, and who she goes to for guidance. It shakes things up in a nice way.”

Who’s in the cast of Sullivan’s Crossing season 5?

The official cast list for season 5 has not been announced, but Murray and Kohan will obviously be returning, as the fate of their relationship was left hanging at the end of season 4. It can also be reasonably assumed that Emerson MacNeil will return as Tracy, since Maggie and Cal may be taking her in as her temporary guardians.

Hopefully, the rest of the main cast will return as well, including Tom Jackson as Frank Cranebear, Andrea Menard as Edna Cranebear, and Lindura as Sydney Shandon.

When does Sullivan’s Crossing season 5 come out?

There’s no release date for season 5 of Sullivan’s Crossing as of this writing. Deadline reports that production is set to begin in the summer of 2026 in Nova Scotia, and that the new season could return in 2027.

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Where can I watch Sullivan’s Crossing?

Sullivan’s Crossing is currently available to stream on The CW and Netflix.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly