When Chad Michael Murray first appears in Freakier Friday, millennials may feel transported to their teenage years. Stepping off a motorcycle, shaking his head of shaggy blonde hair, it seems like the 2000s teen heartthrob has barely changed at all—at least onscreen.
But in his ordinary life, much is different for the 43-year-old. Murray married fellow actor Sarah Roemer in 2015 and when he’s not on set, he’s in full-time dad mode to their three kids, who are 10, 8, and 1. So when he recently embarked on the whirlwind Freakier Friday press tour, he was balancing red carpets with sleepless nights and diaper changes—and he tells Glamour he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“When Sarah and I got together, we made a deal to always keep the pack together,” he says. “We travel the world together. We live out of a suitcase and figure it out. I wanted to be a father. I wanted to be there. I wanted to raise the kids and missing those moments would crush my soul. I got to see all the kids’ first steps. I’ve been there to watch all of it.”
Murray has recently returned to Nova Scotia, where he and Roemer have settled the family so Murray can film the Canadian drama series Sullivan’s Crossing. The show has been a hit up north since its 2023 premiere, but recently it found a whole new audience when its first two seasons came to Netflix in July (the show is based on a book series by Robyn Carr, who also wrote the series that became the smash hit Virgin River). Since then, the series has consistently been in the top 10 on the streamer, and a whole legion of new fans eagerly awaited the third season’s release on August 11.
For Murray, the show has been the perfect job on both a personal and professional level for this stage of his life.
“We love it here,” he says of his family. “We got completely immersed in the community as much as we could. I coach my son’s football team here. It’s the dream, or at least it’s my dream. We’re just having fun.”
In fact, filming Sullivan’s reminds him in many ways of filming his breakout role as Lucas Scott in One Tree Hill—a full-circle moment he can’t help but reflect on. And like the iconic 2000s teen drama, Murray says this show is all about the fans.
“This is the people’s show, and so our job is to continue to try to tell stories that captivate and keep that audience wanting more,” he says.
Murray chatted with Glamour about returning to the world of Freaky Friday, reuniting with his Gilmore Girls costar Scott Patterson, and his idea for a Cinderella Story sequel.
Glamour: You’re just stepping off a whirlwind press tour for Freakier Friday—what was it like reconnecting with all the fans of the first film?
Chad Michael Murray: It was fun.… I do it with my kids. I take them everywhere. The baby does not like to sleep on planes…so that was the hard part. But we figured it out. It was a lot of fun. It was great seeing everybody. It was great meeting so many cool people, and the interview process has been awesome…just talking about a great movie. It was a good one. It’s not always that way, and this was fun.
What was it like coming back to do the sequel after more than 20 years?
It was incredible. It’s all the things that you hope it would be. When you make a sequel like this, obviously you’re hoping that you can catch lightning in a bottle twice. One, mission accomplished, I feel like this is a great movie, but two, it was getting on set and everybody getting comfortable and being awesome and having great energy. I’m sure you have those friends that you see once every six months and you pick up where you left off. There’s no odd weird silences. That’s what it was. We just picked up where we left off. Everyone from the top down just led with love and light. Everybody just showed up.… Everybody was just happy to be there, happy to make a goofy, fun movie and put it all on the line, take a bunch of chances. I think that’s what works about it.
We don’t get a ton of backstory about what Jake’s been up to in the intervening years, though we do learn he’s carried a torch for Tess ever since their memorable connection in the first film, when she rode on the back of his motorcycle when Anna was in her body. So tell us, what has he been doing?
That was a big thing for me…we had to figure out how to navigate Jake’s entrance into the world without having it be too microscopic where it just feels cheap or random.… So I sat there and thought about what’s the funniest option? And you look at Jake and all right, he was pretty astute in high school. He had multiple jobs, I mean, he had keys to the teacher’s lounge for gosh sakes. He was respected. He did well. I’m thinking he probably has multiple jobs or businesses now that he’s grown. He’s got probably multiple cars, which we end up seeing. He’s most likely got a shrine, or at least a poster on his wall, of someone that he’s carried affection for over the last 22 years and he’s just waiting for his shot at the title. He might be waiting for someone to greener pastures so that he can have his shot.
Every time he gets on that bike, all he thinks about is Tess and her arms wrapped around him. I’m sure he had his fair share of first dates, and none of ’em were her. And every time they got on the bike, it just didn’t feel the same. And so here he is, and he’s pining after Tess. And you know what? I don’t blame him.
Have your older kids seen the film and if so, what did they think?
Oh yeah. For the first time we took them to the premiere. So we’ve never done anything public with them. That was the first time they’ve ever stepped into that world. They weren’t sure they wanted to go. They didn’t really know what to expect. And we said, Look, if you’re ever going to go to one, this is the perfect one to be your first premiere. They got all the good stuff. They got cookies and cake afterward, and there’s a live band, all the stuff that kids really get excited about. They were so over the moon about the movie. They were laughing their butts off, and I remember them getting in the car going, “I’m so glad we went.”
Freaky Friday was one of your first big projects, and now you’re on one of the hottest shows on Netflix, Sullivan’s Crossing. What have you learned in the 20-plus years in between these two projects?
I have a really different viewpoint of the industry and about the work than I ever did before. I’m filled with gratitude on a consistent basis. I’m so grateful to walk on set. I love doing it. It’s like a second home for me. Over the course of the first 10 years of my career, I basically was on set for 300 out of 365 days a year. I lived at work. It’s become a part of me. I’m probably a lifer. I’m someone who will do it forever, I think.
I love my job so much. I love acting. I love telling stories that bring light and happiness to people. That’s why I wanted to be an actor. I wanted to give people that departure from whatever was going on in their lives and give them something to take their mind off that. And this movie does that. One Tree Hill did that. Sullivan’s Crossing is doing that. I’m genuinely just super grateful. I love it.
So, let’s talk Sullivan’s. You just returned to Nova Scotia to begin shooting season four, and season three premiered this week on Netflix—where it’s found a new audience. What has it been like to see the show’s popularity grow?
That’s the goal as an actor; you hope and pray to make content that people want to watch. When we made this show, it’s a Canadian television show and it crushed it here in Canada, but in the US it was really hard to get seen on The CW. When the show made the deal to go to Netflix, I was excited about the potential that it held, because this is a binge show, just like Virgin River is a binge show. People will fly through the first five episodes. There’s a lot of character building, there’s a lot of universe building, story building, so they’re a little slower. Then after five, that show takes off and it just starts going. Season three is our best yet, and we’re going to try to top that off with season four.
It’s mind boggling. It’s very cool. I look at my cast members and I say, “Guys, take pride. Take a minute, smile. Just be grateful because it’s not always that way.” It takes the entire team, it takes every crew member, it takes every producer, director, caterer to make a show successful. So that’s really what I’ve been doing is trying to tell everyone, “Hey guys, pat yourselves on the back.” This isn’t one person’s doing. This is a team. This is the ultimate team sport. It really is.
What are some of your favorite parts of being on the show?
What’s great about this show is it’s not gratuitous. That was something that I was very specific about praying for. I got kids; I don’t want to be showing Dad’s butt every week. They don’t need that. I wanted something that was family friendly. You can have it on in the background. People aren’t going to judge you. Just put it on, enjoy it. Go on the adventure with these interesting characters.
Millennials will also be excited to learn that you reunited with your Gilmore Girls costar Scott Patterson on this show. What was it like working with him again?
The first thing that I was excited about was the fact that I was coming to work and I knew somebody. When you start a show, it’s always nerve-racking. No matter what you’re doing, it’s always nerve-racking. It could be because the work you’re doing is incredibly elevated, incredibly difficult. For me it was like, Okay, I’m going to a new show, new territory, new city, new everything. I was like, Okay, I know somebody. At least I got one guy.
Is there any pressure going into filming season four now that the fan base has grown?
I just want to make sure that we go in there and we do our best and we continue to tell a heartfelt story that’s grounded and that we do it with no ego. Because a show like this shouldn’t have ego. It should just stay rooted. It’s a fan show. One Tree Hill was the fan show forever. That show was only successful because of the fans and that group of people. To this day, it is bigger now than it ever was because of streaming. It just keeps growing.
I can’t let you go without asking about another teen classic we haven’t mentioned: A Cinderella Story. Would you do a sequel to that film too?
Yeah, I’d love to see where [my character] Austin went. I’d love to see where Sam [Hilary Duff] went. I think that there’s definitely an audience for it. If it was done with some originality and I thought that people would want to see it, I think it’d be cute. I’m all about it.
Please tell me the sequel could answer the most burning question of the 2000s: How could Austin not recognize Sam in that mask?
Love is blind. That’s the best I got. That’s the best I got. I mean, look at Clark Kent and Lois. The fact that she can’t tell is one of those things that we will always ponder. Don’t you worry, if the sequel ever does happen, I have the perfect solution for it. I’ve already thought of that because when that movie first came out, I got asked that question a million times.… I’ve seen memes about it. I’ve had this solution for years and years and years. So if it happens, it’ll be in there and you’ll get your answers.
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