The path of true love is never as smooth as hoped. In the case of Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) and Nathan Wuornos (Lucas Bryant) in HAVEN, their romantic relationship has had many obstacles – the latest being Audrey’s alter-ego personality Mara, who is claiming original rights to the body and who insists that Audrey exists no more. But for someone like Nathan, he will never believe his true love is gone forever. He will always fight to save her and be with her.
In a recent exclusive interview to promote tonight’s two-hour premiere of HAVEN on Showcase in Canada, star Lucas Bryant talked about the quest to get Audrey back and what possible obstacles lied ahead in Season 5 of HAVEN.
Just because Nathan seems like the kind of guy who would be desperate to get the woman he loves back, is Duke (Eric Balfour) going to beat him over the head and say, “She’s gone. Get real. This is Mara now”?
LUCAS: That is something definitely that both Duke and Dwight (Adam Copeland) need to wrestle with, and Nathan is pretty stubborn in his convictions. So they are at odds in how to move forward.
We have a sense again that Nathan is going to be passionate in his pursuit, but how is Duke going to deal with this new person being in Audrey’s body? Is he going to freak out or is he going to accept it easily?
LUCAS: There is definitely a lot of freaking out in Duke’s future. Whether that has to do specifically with Mara or not, I will not say. But he has a lot to try to keep under control in Season 5.
It also looked like Duke had some health issues when we last saw him. He had some blood on his face. Is his health going to be an issue that will be explored or will that get resolved right away?
LUCAS: That is definitely part of the “trying to keep it all together” issues that Duke has this season.
We are kind of worried at times that Duke looks like he might explode. Maybe that is just the performance, but we worry about him.
LUCAS: (Laughs) Yes. I think there are definitely valid concerns that Duke might explode.
Getting back to Mara because she is the woman of mystery this season, how much of a pain is she going to be for our heroes? Will anybody be able to take her on or are they just going to beat their heads against the wall with that woman?
LUCAS: Yeah, she’s pretty awful. I think Nathan is the type to beat his head against the wall — continuously — as has been evidenced by his past performances beating his heat against the wall over and over. I know that everyone has a different approach with how to deal with Mara. But she is not an easy target. She is a tricky one.
Do you think any of them are really capable going up against her? Or are they just not going to be able to deal with that kind of power that she carries with her?
LUCAS: They have — because they have to have — hope that they are going to be able to deal with her. I don’t know that any one character in particular would have enough power on their own to deal with her. But, hopefully, united they can come up with something.
Another person we are kind of curious about is Jennifer. She didn’t look so good at the end of last season. Are we going to see quickly what happened with her? Or is that going to be a mystery to solve this season as well?
LUCAS: No, she didn’t look very good at all, and we will find out at some point in this season what is going on with her.
So many mysteries! You and Emily had hinted that the mysteries this season are not going to resolve in one episode like they have typically in previous years. Are all the mysterious going to continue throughout the season, or will we get answers a little quicker than waiting a full season?
LUCAS: No, no. You get answers definitely much quicker than ever before. But the Troubles of the week don’t really exist anymore — well, that’s not true. But because we’ve been shooting these in two episode blocks, we’ve spent more time with each Trouble and consequently get more time to explore the characters’ relationships and how they effect the characters and how they effect the relationships with each other — and more time to spend on the larger mythology stories. So I think fans will be very happy with the amount of large reveals that come furiously this season and then, probably, those will lead to even larger mysteries.
One of the things we’ve seen already from the previews is that Mara is going to keep impersonating Audrey with people who are not aware that she is somebody else. Is that going to be a trick that she pulls out in every episode? Or will that trick be used up pretty quickly as people see through it?
LUCAS: That is something that gets used when it benefits her. It’s something that comes up through the first half of the season. But there’s a lot of people who get wise to her pretty quickly.
Back in the boys’ world, since they do not have Audrey around, they are all having to deal with Mara. What’s going on with the boys? Are they working together? Are they going their own way? What are Dwight, Duke and Nathan doing this season?
LUCAS: A bit of both. Like I said before, Nathan’s stubborn. And sometimes from the outside, his seemingly selfish hope and faith in Audrey is hard to get other people on board with. That means that there are points throughout the season when all our characters have to really come together to get things to work in their favor. Unfortunately, by the end of this season — well, not unfortunately, it’s just the way it goes — things happen which break up their united front.
Is there going to be any possibility of redemption for Mara, or is she just “bad to the bone”?
LUCAS: That’s a good question. She is definitely “bad to the bone.” Nathan hopes that — well, if she is the person that is responsible for the Troubles in the first place, then having her around may mean that there is a way to fix these Troubles too. I think the characters will definitely differ on their attitude about how to go about that. But she provides him in a strange way, and as much as she is the most awful thing that could be, she sets Nathan on a new path of hoping.
So this sounds like a “hopeful” season, oddly enough.
LUCAS: (Laughs) Well, it’s strange that is coming out of my mouth because it is quite a dark season as well. But I guess, especially from my character’s perspective, there has to be hope or else how do we carry on?
You got the fans interested when you said there may or may not be some “pancakes” and some lovin’ going on. Can you elaborate a little bit about who might be involved with some of this romance? It seems like they really do not have time for romance.
LUCAS: I can say, it may or may not involve me, and it may or may not involve someone else — and it may or may not involve not me, and or other people. Is that cryptic enough for you? (Laughs) I can’t tell you anything.
Do they even have time for it? I think on their timetable that they don’t have time to mess around with personal relationships.
LUCAS: (Laughs) No. No one has any time for that — even in real life, do we? But still, it happens ’cause that’s just life. Let me say this, as far as “pancakes” go, there will definitely be some appearances of “pancakes” in this season. As far as how — if we’re using “pancakes” as a metaphor for love — there may be a little something for everyone.
So love is going to make an appearance one way or another throughout this season.
LUCAS: Definitely. Love makes an appearance.
One of the things that occurred to me is that Nathan is the kind of guy who will do anything to get back the woman he loves. Is he going to try to sneak a kiss in to try to stir something in Mara?
LUCAS: That’s interesting. I would say that there is nothing that Nathan won’t do if he thinks it will bring Audrey back.
So he might try a seduction route to see if that sparks something.
LUCAS: I think there is some credit to your theory. I can’t say whether or not the writers agree, but I definitely think there’s something to that.
To see exactly how desperate Nathan is and whether it leads to a rift with Duke, be sure to tune in for all new episodes of HAVEN on Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m. on Syfy or 9:00 p.m. on Showcase in Canada. (Note: The 2-hour Canadian premiere of Season 5 airs on September 18th.)