‘Heartland’: Michelle Morgan Opens Up About Lou’s Season 18 Journey & Family Struggles

Beef is brewing heading into Season 18 on Heartland. The longest-running drama in Canadian TV history premieres April 17 on Up Faith & Family streaming service for fans stateside. After Garland Foods dropped the Bartlett-Fleming company in favor of rival Pryce Beef, competition has only added to the challenges keeping the long running family business afloat. 

Samantha Louise “Lou” Fleming (Michelle Morgan) has shouldered a lot of the weight to turn things around after taking on a more active role in the cattle business. Her drive and ideas don’t necessarily mesh all the time with the traditionalists like her grandfather Jack Bartlett (Shaun Johnston) and father Tim Fleming (Chris Potter). If things weren’t bad enough, the drought in the foothills of Alberta has threatened the health of the herd. 

Complicating matters is Lou’s young sister Amy (Amber Marshall) has continued to build a deeper connection with Nathan Pryce, Jr. (Spencer Lord), who has his own complicated backstory. Needless to say, we have a lot to unpack here going into the new season. Luckily, we were able to sit down with Morgan to do just that. 

Going into Season 18, Lou has really entrenched herself into the family business. This comes at a point where the company is facing the most challenges. 

Michelle Morgan: I think one of the things that is very relatable for me about Lou and our show in general is people’s lives don’t go in a straight line. People can start going down the wrong track sometimes and run into hard times. Lou, we see in Season 17 going into 18 that she makes the decision she will focus on the family business, family ranching and get really hands-on. She is on a horse, out in a field, working with the cattle. She ends up getting so driven, as Lou can sometimes do, and loses sight of what’s important. 

You must have had a lot of fun doing more of the outdoor filming. 

I was so happy. I loved when Lou was the mayor, but I wasn’t out on a horse very often. I absolutely love that I get to do that more. One of my favorite parts of the show is being able to ride and being out in the beautiful foothills. When we’re filming in the studio, it’s nowhere near as beautiful and fun. 

This season the business gets hit hard with the drought, which really is art imitating life when you think about what the farmers and those in the industry have to deal with. How was it seeing that be part of the story? 

I thought that was beautiful writing because it is something that is so authentic. If you’ve talked to anyone who is farming or ranching or dealing with the elements, it happens every season. How much rain are we going to get? How are the wildfires going to be? Is it too hot? Is it too dry? Is it too wet? It’s all these variables that they are constantly juggling and dealing with. It’s super realistic. I thought that was really interesting. As we’ve been shooting the show now for 18 seasons, I have watched the climate change where we shoot and evolve. The fires are getting worse and worse every year, so it’s something we are watching happening in real time as well. I’m glad the show addressed things in this way. 

What do you make of Lou’s dynamic with her father and grandfather as she wants to be seen more of a colleague rather than just daughter and granddaughter? 

There is the generational clash as well. Lou is part of the younger generation and not going to do things the same way they’ve always done them. She sees it’s time for a change and upgrade. So, she’ll push them to do more marketing, morning television and approach things in a different way. That causes some tension or not because there are happy moments. But this sort of thing does make their dynamic tricky at times. I thought it was fun because Lou is obviously going to do it her own way. 

How would you describe Lou’s relationship with her daughter Katie [Fleming Morris] as she continues to find her own path and explore interests? 

Katie is going on her own path and journey. I think that falls along the lines of Lou losing sight of what’s important. Katie is going through something Lou is somewhat aware of, but there is some distance there. Katie is hiding things from Lou and keeping secrets from her. It will all come to the surface. It’s something they will all come together to address as a family. The beautiful thing about our show is people do get off the right path and get distracted, but we do end up getting back together and realizing what’s important, which is family and our ranch. Katie is growing up and maybe she doesn’t’ fit in on the ranch and maybe wants to leave. That’s something she’ll have to deal with her mother. I always love working with Baye McPhersoni. She is a wonderful actress and friend as well. 

Photo Credit: Courtesy of CBC / HEARTLAND Photographer: David Brown

There is such a great visual between sisters in the premiere. Amy is getting closer to Nathan. She goes to Lou, who can be a protective sister. This is a person who is part of the competition for their business. What do you make of their sisterly relationship this season? It’s definitely complicated. 

Yeah, and that’s the fun of it. Amy’s conflicted too because she has feelings for Nathan, and he is our direct competition. Lou is conflicted because she wants to support her sister and thinks she deserves to move on and be happy, but it happens to be someone who is considered the enemy this season. Lou can’t support that. Things are at odds. That makes for a tough dynamic between Amy and Lou. It challenges Amy and Nathan as well. I won’t spoil it, but things come to a head toward the end of the season when Lou has this accident in the field. That’s when everyone reassess what’s important. 

What kind of feedback did you get from the Canadian viewers who watched all this unfold? 

I would see things online where people thought Lou had died and all these serious things with what happens. It’s good to have all these theories and excitement surrounding what happens. It was so challenging to shoot all that, but in a really good way. I loved filming this one episode as it tells an incredible story. I hope the fans love it. I feel like our show thrives when there are these really high stakes and danger scenarios that come up. This is definitely one of them. 

Having played this character for so long, is there anything you want to see from her or see her do that she hasn’t already?

I haven’t thought about that in a while. I used to always say I wanted Lou to be the mayor. Then I had my dream come true as well. Now I need to think about my next thing, and be careful because it might come true. Let me think about that for a minute. 

Related

When Will 'Heartland' Season 18 Stream in the U.S.?

Maybe Lou is an astronaut with all these people going to space now. 

Oh god, no thank you. I think it’s a little late in life for that kind of career shift. Lou does whatever she wants. She decides to take on a restaurant, she does it. She decides she wants to open a franchise, she does it. She decides she wants to run an Airbnb and build cabins, she does it. When Lou sets her sights on something, she does it. It’s amazing. 

What do you want to say to viewers before they watch this season? 

For one thing, it’s exciting that Season 18 fans in the [United] States will finally be able to see Up Faith & Family and that is the only network to have Season 18. They also have hundreds of behind the scenes extras and cast interviews and bloopers and fun things for the real Heartland fans. I also want to say I think it’s our best season yet. I really liked directing this season. The episodes I directed are so fun. There is a rodeo, barn dance and accident and drama and everything that people love about our show. It’s a beautiful season, and it has family and horses and drama and fun and everything people have been coming back to our show for the last 18 years. 

Heartland, Season 18 Streaming Premiere, Thursday, April 17, UP Faith & Family