[Warning: All the spoilers ahead.]
To close out our SurrealEstate coverage (for now), I chatted with Tim Rozon about Season 3 and getting the band back together.
For the third season, production moved from Newfoundland to Ottawa, and Rozon was ready to dive back in. “We were in a new place, a new city, a new province, a new studio, with a new crew. Everything was different, but it was the same in so many ways. As soon as I saw Sarah [Levy] and Mo [Dean Wint] and Elena [Juatco] and Savannah [Basley] and Tennille [Read], and just to be back with everybody, was so fun,” he explains.
“I really loved Season 3 because Luke had his powers back, which was great. [This time], it wasn’t so much the internal demons that he had dealt with in Season 2 or Season 1, but this time he was actually just trying to become a better person. That’s the journey he was on this year. He was lost in Season 1, and Season 2 for sure. And Season 3, he’s running out of excuses not to be the good guy that he wants to be.”
Echoing what series creator George Olson told us, Rozon was also thrilled to have the Big Bad be a person. “In Season 1, the Big Bad was the house. You could say it was my mom. But it was the house and what that represented. Season 2, the Big Bad was another house. That house that literally captured Susan. We were fighting Alexa most of the season. We were fighting a robot. And then in Season 3, the Big Bad that we were fighting was an actual person and played so wonderfully by R. Austin Ball,” he shares.
“He’s Just a wonderful actor, an all-in actor who reminded me a lot of Michael Eklund, who played Bobo Delray on Wynonna Earp. I never knew what to expect every day. He was so prepared, so fun, takes chances, went wild. And some of my funnest stuff was just doing scenes with him.”
“And I had good old director Paolo Barzmn back. He’s one of those directors who just lets it go, so those creative actors can just go as big and crazy as they want. And I love it. Sign me up. That’s what I’m in this for. It was wonderful just to work off him and be with him.”
With Season 3 reuniting Luke and Susan, Rozon was excited to also reunite with longtime friend Sarah Levy. “I was just so grateful to get to see Sarah again, because we always stay in contact. I’m close with the rest of the cast too, for sure. But Sarah and I go back all the way to Schitt’s Creek,” he says.
“It’s one of those things where, as soon as we got the bad news [about the earlier cancellation], we called each other right away. As soon as we got the good news [about the earlier reversal], we called each other right away. I was just so happy to be back with her again. I’m so proud of her.”
“She deserves it more than anybody to be the lead of a show. She’s so great. And it’s funny, because when we talk about the proudest thing that I’ve had in my life as an actor, it’s to be a part of SurrealEstate.”
Rozon says the industry reputation of the show is immensely gratifying, and he credits Olson for leading the charge on that vibe. “In Toronto and across Canada, the actors talk about our show and they say how wonderful it is to be a part of it with Sarah and all of our cast, and just how welcoming we are. And that means more than anything, because that’s one thing that we wanted so much,” he explains.
“I’ve been on sets where everybody’s not the nicest and it’s cliquey, and you’ve got these people that have been together forever. And we didn’t want that at all. We wanted every person that came to our set to be free, to be like R. Austin Ball and all the actors.”
“And I think that’s why we got such great performances from everybody, because everybody was relaxed and happy to be there and just could be a part of our team and family immediately. I’m always really proud of that, and I’ve heard multiple, multiple people say, ‘Your set is talked about highly and very warmly among actors across Canada.’”
“It trickles down from the top. George is a wonderful human being. He’s lovely. He’s a beautiful man. He is so smart. He’s an incredible writer, but he’s also just a wonderful, kind man. And to have him around as our real leader is again, I don’t want to overuse the word, but I’m just grateful to have him as the showrunner, that my first leading role was under him. I was lucky and safe.”
I’ve written here before that Hallmark movies are a well-oiled machine that knock out a film in 16 shooting days. Well, brace yourself. SurrealEstate shot 10 episodes of Season 2 in 31 shooting days, and Season 3 was done in 28 shooting days with two production units going flat out. Rozon has spent time on productions where free time was a luxury, but he thrives in the fast pace that defined SurrealEstate.
“The reason that we filmed Season 3 in 28 days in 10 episodes is because we did it for Season 2. We knew we could do it. It got done. People probably should say, ‘We can’t do it,’ so they’ll take the time to do it properly. But we did do it and we put out a good product, because everybody just goes for it,” he shares.
“You’ve got the wrong guy if you think I don’t like it. I might be the only person who doesn’t mind that schedule. I love that schedule. And so did Sarah. We love being there. We love being a part of our show, but we also love being home with our little ones. If we can come and bust this out, have a great time doing it, and then we’re home in two months, that’s the best-case scenario.”
“It’s not easy for a lot of people. I get that. I’d like it better if we had more time to do everything. But I kind of loved it. I’m ready, which helps. I’m very prepared, especially for someone like Luke. I like to be really prepared. I’m probably two weeks ahead of schedule, so I know what I’ll be shooting for two weeks, and you can bring up anything from that day to two weeks forward and I have a good idea of it.”
“I’m ready to do it a hundred percent. I’m just learning scenes. I’m not really looking at the schedule as I normally would. I am definitely looking at what’s [happening] the next day, but Sarah and I would [also] sit around and work on the bigger scenes that were two weeks later.”
“We didn’t have that much stuff together, so on the days we were together, we’d say, ‘You want to run scene 55 from episode seven?’ And she’d say, ‘Yep, I know it. Let’s go.’ I can memorize all the dialogue and lines, and I also know where I am tonally. I break it down. I’ve got notes.”
“With Doc Holliday on Wynonna Earp, I had a couple of notes that I knew, especially, when I was a vampire, not a vampire, turned bad demon. [I know] where I need to be for each scene. You don’t want to be somewhere else so it doesn’t match tonally. [With Luke], I have some notes, so I know where he’s at emotionally, so the beats makes sense. There are some other characters I’ve played where I don’t need notes because they’re not as complicated as Luke or we’re not shooting like that.”
“My department has a lot going on, for sure, but it’s different than other people’s departments. You have grips and electrics and makeup, and they have hours and prosthetics and everyone’s hours are different. Over three seasons, there were only a handful of times where I actually saw someone say, ‘Man, this is hard.’”
“And not that it wasn’t, we were just so lucky that everybody loved doing our show as much as we did, every department. It was hard work, but when you love what you do, it’s not so hard. Everybody rallied together and just wanted to be there and get it done.
Rozon says shooting the show was like shooting 10 mini-movies, each one different, and he never knew what the next one might be until he saw the script. One of those wonderful surprises was Madison, the platinum blonde, red trench coat wearing embodiment of death, played by staff writer Hannah Cheesman.
“It’s one of my definite most favorite parts ever in a storyline. I was lucky enough to get all 10 episodes at once, and I remember when I read it, I called George, and that was the storyline I talked about immediately, and how cool I thought it was and how excited I was to get into that. And then obviously when we did it, it was even more incredible,” he recalls.
“I always thought, if it wasn’t going to work out with Megan, who could Luke date? I mean, it might work for him and death. There’s just not too many choices. But it was great to try and go through all the emotions, the anger, the grief, the acceptance, that kind of death arc. I loved that storyline. It was one of my most favorites. It stood out to me immediately.”
Rozon says he’s also fond of the episodes that were bottle shows where everyone was together, and he loved their guest cast. “My favorite days were when were all in the studio and trapped in that room together and the whole gang and Savannah was there, in Season 1. That was special when we were all together.”
“I’ve got to give some shout outs to the cast, because I would watch the show weekly when it came out, and they’re so good. We’re in a WhatsApp thread, and I’d say, ‘I’m sorry for being the weakest link. I’m good. I’m not the worst Luke, but I’m definitely the weakest link in this group. You guys are so good.’ They just brought it every episode. They’re just so, so funny and so good and heartbreaking.”
“In Season 2, there was so much going on. I had some great stuff with Jennifer Dale. I really loved my stuff with Luke’s parents and it was really tough to say goodbye to Art Hingle. I loved getting into mischief. I distinctly remember a really fun episode with Savannah and I, and the two neighbors that wanted to murder each other. And I remember it being late at night and everybody else finally showed up, and Savannah and I said, ‘You missed the whole day. We’ve been running around here.’”
Rozon shares that anything he had with Mo Dean Wint as August was extra special, especially with how poignant the finale was. “[After we read 310], Sarah called me, or I called her first … I can’t remember. But it was one of those things. ‘Did you read 10?’ ‘Did you read 10?’ And it obviously was about August,” he explains.
“Now I still love it because Luke’s alone where we left him. He didn’t lose his gift. And he’s happy and he is ending up with Megan, the woman he loves, and he’s probably going to open this bar and change his life, but the gift will always be there. So for the SurrealEstate that continues out there in the world with Luke and everything, he’s not alone.”
“[In the bar], he’s got August for a minute because August didn’t know where he was, he was kind of stuck there. And I always loved the idea … I would love to do Season 4 because I want the inside man again. And more hands on than Luke’s dad, who was giving him dad advice.”
“August is going to get right in there and try to deal with these demons in another way. It’d be fun to have the inside man helping the agency out there.”
While there is nothing on the books for any sort of film or follow up, Rozon says never say never. “Nothing would shock me anymore,” he explains. “I’d love to work with George again on anything. He knows that.”
Next up for Rozon, who says he was very fortunate to have had a really busy summer, is a recurring arc on Season 2 of CBC’s Saint-Pierre, which reunited him with many of the Newfoundland SurrealEstate crew. Our Canadian friends can watch it on CBC and CBC Gem beginning January 6th. He also teased that after the holidays, he’s going to start work on a new project that reteams him with a former colleague. Place your bets now.
And since it’s Christmas Eve, I’ll remind you that Rozon has three holiday movies in streaming rotation right now—Hallmark’s Christmas Town, which he says is the one he typically hears from people about the most; Lifetime’s Merry Swissmas, now on Tubi, which is the one he’s getting texts about this year; and UP TV’s Christmas in Wolf Creek, now on Pluto TV.
You can catch all three seasons of SurrealEstate now on Hulu in the US and Crave in Canada. All of our previews and interviews are here.
Photos courtesy of Syfy and Blue Ice Pictures.
