Hallmark "When Calls the Heart"
Kavan Smith, who plays Lee on “When Calls the Heart,” sat down with the podcast Suspenders Unbuttoned to talk about seasons 10 and 11. While they were chatting, he revealed one particular storyline on the show that used to really bother him, until he realized just how relatable it was.
Smith Had Hoped Lee Would Find His Passion in Life, But the Storyline Wasn’t Resolved
In a podcast interview with Suspenders Unbuttoned Media, Smith talked about the seasons where his character Lee really struggled with finding something in life that he was truly passionate about.
Smith said he really wanted a concrete resolution for Lee, but nothing has yet been offered. He talked about it around 10 minutes into the interview.
“They wrote it into the scripts a long time ago that he’s looking for a passion…” Smith recalled. “I think we all are in life… Everybody would love to do something that means something, because then you don’t work a day in your life, you’re doing what you love… But then there was no resolution to it [for Lee] so I thought he was kind of just spinning his wheels…”
But he said that he later realized this was something people could relate to.
“Then I thought I think that in retrospect, it’s kind of neat because a lot of people don’t get to do what they want, they just search in perpetuity and they don’t find that thing…” he said. “I kind of always wanted a big resolution, like years ago… but now that no big resolution came, there is something there too…”
At about 13 minutes into the interview, Smith revisited that time in his character’s evolution, saying that he was really annoyed at first when a resolution wasn’t written for Lee.
“I definitely think that the idea of him not having that big resolution a few years ago, that kind of pissed me off a bit, to be quite honest with you…” Smith said. “I wanted something from it. But in a retrospect … leaving it open a little bit like that… I felt like he was flailing in the wind a bit and I think that’s okay now. I look at it now like a lot of us are just flailing in the wind. Doing our best to hang on and taking the punches that come and keep going one day at a time, one step at a time. And I actually think it’s been quite an interesting evolution for Lee… I know in season 11 it continues on to the end of the season, but I also think that it could continue on further.”
He did add that there’s one obvious new passion for Lee: his baby.
“Lee is obviously a family man, madly in love with his wife…” he shared. “They’ve wanted kids for a long time and … this is a new sort of spin on Lee.”
Bringing Baby Goldie to the Cast Wasn’t Easy at First, He Said
At about seven minutes into the interview, Smith said they ran into some trouble at first when the character baby Goldie was first added to their cast.
“Pascale [Hutton] has been pushing for this baby angle for many, many years,” he said. “So when we finally got it, the first couple of days on set, our poor little girl was teething and she did not want to be there. And she was carrying on and really fussy…”
At first, the delays were pretty costly, he added.
“Working with kids is expensive and our show is not expensive, we are run on a shoestring budget,” Smith recalled. “So any time [there are] delays to try and get a kid to stop crying or chill out or relax, they really are expensive. So in the first couple of days it didn’t go well. But they were her first couple of days on set. And then we just kept working away with her, Pascale and I off camera, sort of developing a friendship and a relationship. And as soon as the teething stopped, she just opened up. She was so much fun.”
You can watch the full interview here.
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