

Laura Mennell as Haven's Dr. Charlotte Cross. Photo copyright of Syfy.

On the surface, the seaside hamlet of Haven, Maine appears to be a picture-postcard example of New England life, but the locals know differently. For decades, the town and its residents have lived with and endured “The Troubles,” a recurring plague of supernatural afflictions that affects several of the townspeople in bizarre and often fatal ways.

Up to now, the Haven authorities have been able to keep the town’s secret from the outside world, but that is in danger of changing with the recent arrival of Dr. Charlotte Cross, a member of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), who is not so easily dissuaded from uncovering the truth. She is played on Haven by fan favorite Laura Mennell, who is known for her many feature film and TV roles including Nina Theroux on another Syfy channel series Alphas. A perfect fit for the Charlotte Cross character, the actress originally passed on auditioning for the part due to a prior professional commitment.

“Oddly enough I was in Los Angeles to screen-test for another role, and Haven’s LA casting department really wanted me to come in and read for the producers,” recalls Mennell. “Although I was very interested in auditioning for them, I wanted to remain totally focused on my screen-test for this other series. It was just one of those things; there was a great deal of political jargon that I had to learn for the other screen-test and I needed to stay on task for that. So I sadly passed on Haven. I never ended up booking the other job, though, and flew back to Vancouver. Luckily, Haven casting was still interested in me, so I happily put together an audition tape as soon as possible and sent it off. Thankfully, they loved it and hired me right off the tape,” she enthuses.



(L-R): Dr. Charlotte Cross (Laura Mennell), Gloria (Jane Eastwood) and Dwight Hendrickson (Adam Copeland) in "Morbiity." Photo copyright of Syfy.

Dr. Charlotte Cross’ involvement this (fifth) season on Haven was precipitated by events that took place during last year’s finale Lighthouse. In it, local reporter Dave Teagues (John Dunsworth) suffered a leg injury after almost being sucked into an inter-dimensional vortex. The abrasion led to some strange behavior on Dave’s part in season five, which attracted the unwanted attention of the CDC. At the end of the fifth season episode Exposure, Dr. Charlotte Cross (Mennell) arrives in town, much to the surprise of Dave’s brother Vince (Richard Donat) and Haven’s sheriff Dwight Hendrickson (Adam Copeland, formally World Wrestling Entertainment’s Edge), who tries his best to keep her in the dark about the true cause of Dave’s injury.

“I actually shot my one and only scene for Exposure quite a while after I worked on Morbidity,” notes Mennell. “I was working on another project at the time and couldn’t fly to Nova Scotia when they were filming Exposure. As far as my second episode, I remember my first day quite well. I worked predominantly with Adam Copeland. I’d never met him before. I only knew that he was a WWE wrestler, and when I met Adam, I really liked hm. Not that I was necessarily surprised, but he was just very different than one might expect a pro wrestler to be. Adam is an incredibly sweet, family-oriented guy who loves talking about his baby girl. He’s great to work with, and I remember thinking, ‘Thank God, he’s so nice. It’s going to make work that much easier and enjoyable.’ You never know who you’re going to be working with, and when you’re able to enjoy your fellow actors’ company, it makes such a world of difference.

“I also remember falling in love with the Haven crew in my first week of filming. They’re an amazing group of people, and I love East Coast Canadians, anyway. They’re just honest to goodness lovely people, so the crew made my stay in Nova Scotia even more of a joy. The show’s cast was equally fantastic, and something I thought was especially great on Haven is how family-oriented the majority of the cast is. I already mentioned Adam, and there’s also Lucas Bryant [Nathan Wuornos] and Emily Rose [Audrey Parker]. I was particularly fascinated with Emily in that regard. She’s number one on the call sheet and is taking care of a toddler at the same time. Emily works her butt off and brings her A-game to set every day regardless of how little sleep she may have had. She’s a great gal with an amazing work ethic as well as a fantastic mom and someone with whom I was so impressed.”



A scene from "Mortality." Exactly what IS Charlotte Cross (Laura Mennell) doing in Haven? Photo copyright of Syfy.

Despite Dwight’s best efforts in the aforementioned Morbidity, including a dinner invitation, hand-delivered lobster rolls and a proposed boat ride, he can only lead Charlotte so far down the wrong path. When an unexplained sickness breaks out amongst “Troubled” people, Charlotte declares Haven a quarantine zone and tries to contact the CDC. With help from Nathan and Duke (Eric Balfour), Dwight is able to stall her, but when his friends attempt to take matters into their own hands, Dwight intervenes – for the moment. Obviously, Charlotte’s visit to Haven is destined to become far less routine and, likely, more dangerous, which suits Mennell just fine.

“My character definitely goes through some interesting changes this season,” says the actress. “Unfortunately, I can’t really delve into them as it would ruin the story arc that she’s a part of, but I can promise you that some pretty crazy stuff happens with her.

“When the audience first meets Charlotte, she’s a very inquisitive and intelligent woman who is very focused on her job as an epidemiologist for the CDC. One of the things I immediately loved about her is that while Charlotte is so driven, she can also be warm and has this sweet side that you’ll get to see in her relationship with Dwight. They initially start to bond through a mutual respect for one another and dedication to their respective jobs. In fact, one of my favorite scenes from Haven is in Morbidity when they’re at dinner and getting to know each other. She has this great tale from her days with the CDC about this farmer. It’s sweet and quirky and a little bit gross,” jokes Mennell, “but I think conversations like that that she has with Dwight are part of what drew Charlotte to me in the first place.



Charlotte (Laura Mennell) and Dwight (Adam Copeland) share a lighter moment in "Morbidity." Photo copyright of Syfy.

“The two of them subsequently connect on a deeper level, but I have to say that Charlotte’s and Dwight’s romance will probably become somewhat complicated as he discovers that she might be hiding some things. Charlotte is also a bit mysterious and may have a secret agenda that will eventually surprise Audrey and the rest of the Haven gang. It’s a pretty shocking secret and it kind of blew me away as well when I found out, so I think the viewers will really enjoy what’s to come. The writers have gotten pretty creative and there have been a lot of fun things for me to play with the character this season.

“Starting out, I think one of the biggest challenges for me with Charlotte was the importance of understanding a lot of the epidemiology that is so much a part of the daily life of this character. I really enjoyed and embraced that, but I had a tremendous amount of medical jargon to learn. Charlotte can be a real talker, so I learned a lot of odd interesting facts, and I’d have to look up tutorials on how to do certain medical tasks, even if it was something as simple as giving a vitamin B12 shot to a patient. There are so many little things that add up. That’s all part of the job, though, and it’s terrific as an actor to get to learn new skills and gain new knowledge all the time.”

Prior to Haven, the actress appeared in the recurring role of prosecutor Samantha Turner in the CTV crime drama series Motive. Mennell can also be seen in the UP Network made-for-TV movie called A Girl’s Best Friend. “What I loved most about doing Motive was getting to be part of a great Canadian show that has done so well and has been shown on ABC TV in the States,” she says. “It was, of course, also nice having a little reunion of sorts and getting to act opposite again with Warren Christie [Sergeant Mark Cross in Motive as well as Cameron Hicks in Alphas].

“On A Girl’s Best Friend I worked alongside a young Vancouver actress named Lilah Fitzgerald, who is wonderful, and I also had a lot of fun working with James Denton from Desperate Housewives. It’s a really sweet family movie that should air, I believe, sometime in January.”

Steve Eramo

Haven airs Fridays @ 7:00 p.m. EST on Syfy. As noted above, all photos copyright of Syfy, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!