Murder in a Small Town arrived in the 2024 TV schedule as a murder mystery procedural starring Rossif Sutherland and Kristin Kreuk. Although Sutherland had plenty of TV credits before debuting on Fox as Police Chief Karl Alberg, this show is his first network TV lead role in the U.S. According to executive producer Jeff Wachtel, the goal was originally for the star to work opposite his father, the late Donald Sutherland. Sadly, the film and television legend passed away before he could do so, but the EP shed light on what might have been.
I spoke with Jeff Wachtel for last week's Season 1 finale of Murder in a Small Town, including about hopes for Season 2 in the 2025 TV schedule and a tricky situation writing for Kristin Kreuk's Cassandra. I noted to the EP that I hadn't been too familiar with Rossif Sutherland prior to the Fox series thanks to most of his previous shows airing in Canada, and was impressed by his work as Alberg. Wachtel responded with a story about the "delightful coincidence" that Donald Sutherland had been attached to an adaptation before his son had:
It's so nice of you to say. I wasn't [very familiar] either. It was the network's idea, and I've been the network so it's nice when I can give them credit. It was their casting department that said, 'You really should look at this guy.' And then there was, of course, the delightful coincidence that when the script was first developed, Donald Sutherland was attached to do it as a movie thirty years ago.
As it turns out, Rossif Sutherland's father was originally attached to a film based on the books of L.R. Wright, decades before this incarnation of TV show could have even been imagined. The reveal that the network had brought Rossif up as a potential lead also adds more context to what the star told us about being approached to play Alberg.
The movie version of L.R. Wright's story never happened, but Donald Sutherland's son would ultimately get the chance to bring Karl Alberg to life on the small screen years later. And if his health had allowed, Donald Sutherland would have appeared opposite Rossif, as Jeff Wachtel went on:
When it came to my attention a couple of years ago, Donald was attached to play George Wilcox in the first episode. We had all hoped for that. His health did not allow him. When Rossif was cast in the lead, that only made him want to do it more. They were very close, but unfortunately, that didn't get to happen. But it was fun, at least honoring Donald's presence in the project.
As it turns out, Donald Sutherland would have played George Wilcox, the key character in the supersized series premiere who Alberg and Cassandra had to investigate. (You can stream the premiere with a Hulu subscription now.) James Cromwell would ultimately play Wilcox, and the Murder in a Small Team did go the extra mile to honor Sutherland in that first episode by airing this card at the very end:
While we'll never know what Donald Sutherland would have brought to the role of George Wilcox if he'd gotten to play the character as intended, but James Cromwell was a big name and talented actor to play the part in his place. I'm glad that Murder in a Small Town was able to include that dedication, though, in honor of the roles that Sutherland could have played as well as Rossif Sutherland in losing his father. The show premiered a few months after the elder Sutherland passed away at the age of 88.
For more of Donald Sutherland, you can check out our list of his best movies and how to watch them. As for his son, you can find the full first season of Rossif Sutherland's Murder in a Small Town streaming on Hulu now.
