‘We’ve Never Seen This Version of Bashir Before,’ says Hamza Haq, Setting Up Some Big Changes in Season 3 of TRANSPLANT

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede   Dr. Bashir “Bash” Hamed’s life on CTV’s TRANSPLANT is already complicated enough, but now he has the prospect of a workplace romance thrown into the mix, in addition to a new boss with bold ideas. So Season 3 of TRANSPLANT – which debuts Friday, Sept. 23, at 9 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app – isn’t exactly shaping up to be a calm and serene one for Bash. “We’ve never seen this version of Bashir before,” revealed Hamza Haq, who plays Bash. “I’m actually excited for everybody to see it, because this season will offer a very different Bashir than what we’re used to.” As Season 2 of TRANSPLANT wrapped up last April (all episodes are on CTV.ca and Crave, for anyone who needs to catch up), there were strong suggestions that the relationship between Bash and Dr. Magalie “Mags” Leblanc, played by Laurence Leboeuf, was about to become more intimate. Opinions can differ wildly on the subject of workplace romance, but how do Bash and Mags feel about it? “To answer your question from Bash’s perspective, yes, it’s always good, and yes, it’s always bad,” Haq said with a laugh. “I mean, I can’t speak about the storyline in the show – audiences will just have to wait and see. But just in general terms, any time there’s any level of intimacy with people who are bound to see each other frequently amongst other people, there’s a level of hesitation, a level of excitement, and a sense of stepping out of your comfort zone. I think it’s all really about exposing your vulnerability in a public sphere. And that’s probably what kept Bash and Mags from pursuing it in the first couple of seasons.” Of course, there was another big development in TRANSPLANT at the end of Season 2, with the departure of Dr. Jed Bishop, who had been the head of the emergency department at York Memorial, played by John Hannah. With Dr. Bishop gone, Bash has a new boss – namely, Dr. Neeta Devi, played by Rekha Sharma (most recently seen playing a fake reporter in SHOWTIME’s YELLOWJACKETS, which is available on Crave). Dr. Devi definitely wants to do things differently. “Yeah, let’s ruin the flow of everything that you’ve gotten used to, and any comfort that you may have found in getting through these long days – let’s start all over!” said Haq, voicing the concerns of Bash and the rest of the staff. “But having said that, Bashir is no stranger to starting all over. It’s something that he has done so often, so you know, add another one. But he’ll have to find a way to get by without the sort of inherent confidence and comfort that he found with Dr. Bishop. With Dr. Bishop out of the picture, there’s an added courage in himself that Bash has to find, in the absence of that support system.” In both his professional and personal lives, Bash is being pushed to open up more. But that’s a hard thing for him. He has been through a lot, and trust in others is not his first instinct. “Yeah, I feel like there’s an important distinction between setting healthy boundaries, and just avoiding how you feel – and that’s a grey area with Bash,” Haq said. “There’s obviously a great deal of trauma that he’s dealing with, and he’s avoiding that. More than a few times we’ve heard him say something like, ‘why can’t people just be okay with the fact that I don’t like talking about these things?’ And in today’s day and age, we know that you can’t bully somebody into therapy, or into opening up more, because they have to come to it themselves. But I think with everybody who does encourage Bash to speak up, it comes from the right place. It’s not merely, ‘tell me how you feel,’ but more like, ‘get some help if you need it.’ ” Playing a character who is so guarded with his emotions is a tough acting challenge, but Haq is up to it. “Credit to all the editors and directors who find so many ways to end scenes with a closeup on my face!” Haq said. “But sometimes the job is to tell a lot of story without saying a lot of words. We have seen Bash happy. He’ll smile. But the context becomes very important, like, ‘oh, we’ve seen him smile before, but this is the first time we’ve seen him smile about this.’ So there are so many ‘firsts’ that we’ve yet to see.” TRANSPLANT’s fresh new season of ‘firsts’ begins Friday!   billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv