TRANSPLANT Creator Joseph Kay is Excited and Curious to See How American Audiences React to the CTV Original Series

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Joseph Kay has worked on plenty of successful TV shows, but he had to admit it: There’s something special about having a giant billboard for TRANSPLANT prominently on display on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. “It’s a huge, huge deal for me, and for Hamza (Haq, the lead actor whose face adorns that massive billboard), and for everybody who works on TRANSPLANT, we’re very excited,” said Kay, the creator of the show. Following a highly successful first season last spring on CTV, the Canadian Original Series is making its U.S. debut Tuesday on NBC. An encore presentation will air in simulcast on CTV, starting at 10 p.m. ET. “You make something and you just want people to see it,” Kay said. “Sometimes it doesn’t happen, for whatever reason. The audience is so fractured now. But since this thing started, to see how it has connected with audiences so strongly, and to know that it’s now starting in this huge market in the U.S., is very thrilling.” TRANSPLANT focuses on Haq’s character, Dr. Bashir “Bash” Hamed, a Syrian doctor with battle-tested skills in emergency medicine who fled his country with his younger sister and is trying to rebuild his life and career in Toronto. The deep and talented cast also features Laurence Leboeuf, John Hannah, Jim Watson, Ayisha Issa, and many more. The series hits on universal themes of adaptation, assimilation, change, and second chances, according to Kay, but obviously there are nuances between TV audiences in Canada and the U.S., not to mention specific differences in the healthcare systems of the two nations. Does Kay anticipate that the reactions of American viewers to TRANSPLANT will be notably different to the reactions of Canadian viewers? “I don’t know – but I’m very curious to find out,” Kay said. “I wouldn’t want to prejudge that market based on what we see in the news up here about everything. But I’m really interested to see.” Kay described Haq as “a star and a genius,” whose deft touch in playing Bash is one of the main reasons why TRANSPLANT is a special show. So besides Haq’s character, is there another one that might have the potential to be a breakout fan favourite in the U.S.? “So let’s take John Hannah’s character (Dr. Jed Bishop) out of the equation, because John is already so well-known,” Kay said. “We’re so lucky to have him, he really grounds the show. He gives our family a dad. And I love them all, so not to play favourites in any way, but I would say Ayisha’s character (Dr. June Curtis). Ayisha committed to the terseness of the character, the chip on the shoulder, and she wasn’t afraid to do that right out of the gate. June does this thing over the course of the season where she starts kind of gruff, but then we see her vulnerability, and for me it always made her really likeable. Ayisha did such a lovely job just letting that happen. So that’s where I would put my bet this time.” It’s interesting that June is the character on TRANSPLANT who technically reveals the least, but by the end of the season, audiences might feel as if they know her the best. “I love that,” Kay said. “That’s so interesting. I think that’s totally true. She doesn’t get that much to say on a personal level, but it’s just by the way she softens up a little bit, in tiny places. You’re always amazed when actors are able to withhold elegantly, and she does it. And of course, Jim is also amazing and funny and warm, and Laurence already is a star, too. They’re all great. We’re so lucky. I mean, everybody always says that, but in our case it really is true.” Canadian fans already know it, and American audiences are about to find out. billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv