Cal Faces His Biggest Rival Yet as 'Sullivan's Crossing' Season 4 Kicks Off
Chad Michael Murray is back on The CW, and this time his character Cal Jones is facing a threat he never saw coming. Season 4 of Sullivan's Crossing premiered on Monday, April 20, 2026, delivering the dramatic cliffhanger resolution that fans had been anticipating since the Season 3 finale: the arrival of Liam, Maggie Sullivan's secret husband. The season opener, which aired at 8 p.m. EDT, wasted no time establishing the tension between Cal and the new arrival, played by Hallmark veteran Marcus Rosner.
The premiere set the tone for what promises to be the show's most emotionally charged season yet. A widely shared sneak peek released by The CW's official Instagram account ahead of the debut showed Cal and Liam sizing each other up at Rob's new restaurant at The Crossing — an exchange that was short on words but long on friction. Murray himself hyped the season without giving too much away: "A lot of awesomeness, a lot of relationships, a lot of love, a lot of heartbreak and some much needed healing," he said in a promotional clip. "We need answers, we need truth — bring it."
A Love Triangle Built on Secrets — and a Shocking Reveal
How Season 3 Set the Stage
For viewers who need a refresher: Sullivan's Crossing, based on Robyn Carr's book series of the same name, follows neurosurgeon Maggie Sullivan (Morgan Kohan) after she retreats to a small rural town in Nova Scotia to escape a professional crisis. There, she meets the enigmatic Cal Jones, played by Murray, and a slow-burn romance develops across three seasons.
Season 3, which began streaming on Netflix in August 2025 after its initial CW run, introduced Liam as a shadow figure from Maggie's past. Maggie had mentioned him to a friend as a summer fling before medical school — someone she had met on a trip abroad before losing touch. Cal later discovered letters Maggie had written to Liam explaining why their relationship could never work because of her career ambitions. Despite that revelation, the season's final chapters focused on the blossoming relationship between Maggie and Cal, culminating in Cal asking her to move in with him. Then, in a jaw-dropping final scene, a guest who had quietly checked in to Sullivan's Crossing revealed himself to be Liam — and introduced himself to Cal as Maggie's husband.
What Season 4 Brings
Season 4 picks up directly from that bombshell. According to previews and cast interviews, the new episodes will include flashbacks that illuminate Liam and Maggie's romantic history and explain how a relationship that seemed to have ended long ago was never officially dissolved. Maggie must now reconcile her feelings for both men while Cal grapples with a betrayal of trust that strikes at the heart of everything they built together. Meanwhile, Sully (Scott Patterson) — Maggie's father and the show's original anchor — is absent this season after Patterson opted not to return, reportedly due to behind-the-scenes tensions. His departure is written into the narrative as Sully having left The Crossing on a trip with Helen (Kate Vernon).
Marcus Rosner, best known for his recurring presence in Hallmark productions and appearances in UnREAL, Arrow, and Supernatural, steps into the pivotal role of Liam. Despite the on-screen rivalry, Murray has been publicly enthusiastic about his new co-star, and Kohan echoed that sentiment, suggesting that Rosner's addition injects fresh energy into the ensemble.
The full season consists of ten episodes, airing weekly through June 22, 2026, on The CW. Episodes become available to stream on The CW app the day after their broadcast premiere. Seasons 1 through 3 are currently on Netflix, and industry observers expect Season 4 to follow suit later in the year.
Murray at 44: A Career Resurgence Rooted in Both Screens and Family
From One Tree Hill to a Renewed Leading-Man Moment
For Murray, Sullivan's Crossing represents more than just another TV credit. The 44-year-old actor, who first became a household name as Lucas Scott on the CW's One Tree Hill in the early 2000s, has spoken openly about how his return to the network feels like a homecoming — one he can now appreciate through the lens of fatherhood and personal stability. "I'm a family man. I've got my amazing wife and three beautiful babies and that's my pack," he told Parade in 2023.
Murray is married to actress Sarah Roemer, 41, whom he met on the set of the TV series Chosen in 2013. The couple married by early 2015 and have kept their family life largely private, though their three children made a rare public appearance at the premiere of Freakier Friday in 2025 — one of several film projects Murray completed alongside his television work that year.
The Broader Trend: Prestige-Lite Drama Finds Its Audience
The return of Sullivan's Crossing speaks to a broader shift in television consumption habits. Romantic dramas with serial storytelling — once considered the domain of daytime soaps or cable-movie channels — have found a sustainable home in the streaming-broadcast hybrid model that shows like Sullivan's Crossing now occupy. By airing first on The CW and then migrating to Netflix, the series reaches two distinct but overlapping audiences: traditional broadcast viewers and on-demand streamers who prefer to binge entire seasons.
For The CW specifically, which has undergone significant ownership and programming changes in recent years, Sullivan's Crossing has become one of its most reliable performers — a fact underscored by its renewal for a fourth season and the network's continued investment in the show's production. Murray's ongoing prominence on the network, decades after One Tree Hill made him a teen idol, also illustrates how legacy talent can anchor new programming in an increasingly fragmented media landscape.
With ten episodes ahead, a love triangle at full boil, and a fan base that has followed Murray across two decades of television, Sullivan's Crossing Season 4 arrives as one of the spring season's most closely watched romantic dramas.
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