Sullivan's Crossing is heading into its fifth season with a significant leadership change. Series creator Roma Roth has stepped down as head writer and showrunner, and will be succeeded by Canadian writer-producer Floyd Kane.
The news was reported exclusively by Deadline. Kane, best known for creating CBC's 2019 legal drama Diggstown, the first Canadian series with a Black female lead in the legal genre, will assume day-to-day control as Head Writer. Roth will remain attached as an executive producer, and her creative vision is expected to continue to be reflected in the show.
CTV renewed the series for a fifth season last month as part of its upfront announcements. A pickup from the CW, which has been the show's U.S. home since its first season, is still being finalized.
Production on Season 5 is scheduled to begin later this summer in Nova Scotia. Morgan Kohan and Chad Michael Murray will return as the leads. Scott Patterson, who co-led the series for its first three seasons before departing after Season 3, is not currently expected to return.
Patterson's exit was not quiet. He and Roth each issued public statements earlier this year that made clear the separation was not amicable. "The creative differences were becoming untenable and I just sadly realized that the show was not something that I could agree to continue," Patterson said in March.
There had been longstanding reports of a difficult working environment on set, with some of those concerns directed at Roth's management style. None of that tension appears to have affected the show's performance with audiences.
Sullivan's Crossing remains the CW's most-watched series in the United States. Season 4 finished its CW run on June 22 and debuted on Netflix on June 30, immediately landing in the streamer's daily U.S. Top 3 for TV series. Despite being available only in the United States, the season ranked at number 6 on Netflix's global English-language series chart in its opening week with 3 million views.
Roth has been behind two successful adaptations of author Robyn Carr's work. In addition to Sullivan's Crossing, she executive produces Virgin River for Netflix, which is heading into its eighth season.
Kane's recent credits include executive producing the TV movie Recipe for Romance and the BBC Scotland/Sky New Zealand thriller series The Ridge.
