With Gratitude For The Fans and Respect For The Characters, Hamza Haq and The Cast of TRANSPLANT Venture Boldly Into Season 4

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede TRANSPLANT star Hamza Haq has a handy real-life gauge to remind him how much time has passed since the show premiered. “I got the part about two weeks before my daughter’s first birthday,” said Haq, who plays lead character Dr. Bashir “Bash” Hamed. “Now, you know, she’s speaking, and has intelligence, and attitude, and doesn’t just talk, but talks back, which is beautiful. So all of that has happened over the lifetime of this show.” It was announced last month that the award-winning TRANSPLANT will conclude with its upcoming fourth season, which debuts Friday, Oct. 6 at 9 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app. In the first episode of Season 4, Bash and Mags (Laurence Leboeuf) team up to save a John and Jane Doe found in the woods, June (Ayisha Issa) sees an old mentor in a new light, Theo (Jim Watson) longs for in-person interaction while forced to treat patients virtually, and Devi (Rekha Sharma) makes a budget decision with major implications for the Emergency Department. TRANSPLANT debuted back in 2020, and Haq said the cast is coming to grips with everything the series continues to achieve, while also appreciating the precious time they get to spend together. “We’ve had a long production schedule, we had the COVID shutdown, we’ve had … well, ‘ups and downs’ isn’t the right term, but obviously it takes an enormous effort to bring something like this to completion,” Haq said. “Having said that, to consider where everybody’s lives and careers were back when we began, we reminisce about all these things, and with the sheer amount of growth that everybody has gone through over our tenure on the show, it does kind of feel like a blink. We’ve had ‘you’ll miss it’ moments, because we’re all going to miss hanging out with each other so much. In that way, we wish we had more time together. It sometimes feels as if we didn’t have enough time to actually be with each other, and experience life, because we were just making the show, and it went by.” But that’s exactly what happens when a group is doing quality work. On that very subject, Haq was asked if he could point to a specific circumstance, or a specific scene, or a specific memory, where the commitment and talent of TRANSPLANT’s cast and crew stood out to him. “Great performances are done very regularly on this show, in certain scenes where there’s a lot of emotion, and everybody just hits it perfectly, and I’m so grateful for that,” Haq said. “But I remember doing a scene with Ayisha Issa, who plays June, and suddenly she just put her hand on my leg, and whispered, ‘I need you to hold.’ She had dislocated her knee halfway through the take! We finished the scene, then she just stood up and slowly popped it back into place. And we went again. She’s like, ‘yeah, that just happens sometimes.’ There are lots of examples, but that’s the first thing I thought of when you asked me that question. It’s work ethic that always impresses me most.” Bash certainly has a work ethic that is unparalleled. His path toward some kind of comfort zone has been a difficult one, and it will continue as Season 4 progresses. “Bashir doesn’t have an ‘unwind and live on a beach’ mentality, so as long as he can get to contribute to the thing that he loves, if that’s working in the ER, serving people, and taking care of his sister, he’s happy,” Haq said. “And I feel that’s largely the immigrant story, and the refugee story, in that when they’re thrown into circumstances that they can’t control, all they want to do is to relive their purpose that was taken away from them. He finds his happiness, or he finds success, in the service of his purpose. Is it peace? I don’t know. Is it sustainable? I don’t know. But I think that is as deep and as profound a purpose as any one of us can aspire to in life, and to have the opportunity to execute that is a blessing.” TRANSPLANT has attracted a very loyal fan base, right from the first episode, so Haq was asked what all those devoted viewers have to look forward to in Season 4. “They can expect that we have done our absolute best to treat the characters that you love and have come to support with as much respect and sensitivity as we possibly could,” Haq said. “We have committed the last four or five years to telling their stories, and now that it’s coming to an end, I hope you’re all satisfied with where it’s going. And we have felt your love and your support every step of the way, so thank you for that.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv