Eyes to the West
After the surprise cancellation of PI drama Private Eyes, star Jason Priestley and executive producer Lloyd Segan tell DQ about reuniting for sequel Private Eyes West Coast and the changing relationship at the heart of the series.
When Jason Priestley and Cindy Sampson wrapped production on the season five finale of Canadian drama Private Eyes, the star duo had no idea they had also filmed its last episode.
Running for 60 episodes on Canada’s Global between 2016 and 2021, the series starred Priestley as ex-pro hockey player Matt Shade, whose life changes when he decides to team up with fierce PI Angie Everett (Sampson) to form an unlikely investigative duo.
“We didn’t know that we were filming our last episode when we were filming that episode, so nothing was tied up,” Priestley tells DQ. “We had no idea. At the time, the show was the number-one show in Canada, and none of us could imagine the fact that our broadcaster would cancel their number-one show, but they did. It’s one of life’s great mysteries.”
With the story left on a cliffhanger after Shade and Angie revealed their love for each other, Priestley and Sampson moved on to other jobs, though they would often catch up with their families when Priestley was visiting Toronto, where Sampson is based and the show was set.
It seems Global wasn’t entirely done with Private Eyes, however, as the broadcaster and Lionsgate Television – which snapped up Private Eyes studio Entertainment One in 2023 – hatched a plan for its return in the shape of Private Eyes West Coast. Filming has been completed on season one, which is being distributed by Lionsgate Television, and a second season is already on order.
Behind the scenes, Shawn Piller and Lloyd Segan of Piller/Segan return as executive producers alongside stars Priestley and Sampson.
“I was glad I was sitting down, because I would have fallen on the floor,” jokes Segan about the moment Jocelyn Hamilton, the president of television at Lionsgate Canada, told him the news of the sequel. “It was a very pleasant surprise, and I give her and Rachel Nelson, the VP of original programming at [Global owner] Corus, the credit for envisioning this and really giving Shawn and myself and Jason and Cindy the support to make the show what we hoped it could be.”
Priestley certainly didn’t hesitate to sign up when he was pitched the idea for West Coast. “I was keen to do it when they approached me,” he says. “These conversations started a little over a year ago. When they called and said, ‘Hey, what would you guys think about doing a reboot?’ I’m glad I was sitting down.”
From showrunners, writers and executive producers Jennifer Kassabian and Sarah Dodd, the new series finds Shade and Angie – now a couple and parents to a one-year-old – living very different lives in Victoria, British Columbia. The pair are no longer PIs: Shade has written a book and Angie is enjoying life as a new mum, while both are adjusting to living in a new city with new friends. Then in the opening episode, a date night dinner goes south when a body is discovered at the restaurant they are dining at, with one of Angie’s friends implicated in murder. Believing her friend to be innocent, Angie is keen to take up the case, though Shade is less enthusiastic.
“Shade is more reluctant to get back into it,” Priestley says. “It’s really Angie, because of her relationship with this other woman, who wants to help her friend. Then as the episode goes on, Angie gets really ignited and fired up by doing this.
“Then they find their way back, but that has its own challenges too. New city, new place. They don’t know anybody. They’ve got to create contacts and find a police contact, which they struggle with all season, which is hilarious. It’s familiar enough, but it’s also different enough that people who didn’t watch the original show can just enjoy the show.”
As the pair re-establish their PI credentials, they also find themselves constantly wrestling with the need to be good parents. “I think that struggle is very relatable,” Priestley notes. “That struggle of wanting to devote your life to your kid, but you also have to chisel out some time to keep your relationship together. That’s one of the other elements we explore in the show this season.”
Shade’s hesitancy to return to his PI career comes from starting a new chapter in life as an author, while Angie “doesn’t have an alternative in her life,” Segan explains. “There’s no other aspect to her emotional journey, other than being a fabulous wife and a mum, and she didn’t realise she was missing something until this incident happened.”
However, won over by Angie’s passion for her friend’s innocence, Shade soon throws himself into the case. “You can see they’re so connected,” Segan continues. “That’s the moment when you know how much he loves her, because he’s doing this for her. Then eventually they get caught up in it, because they start to unravel the mystery and he’s more and more convinced that his wife is correct.
“Then the final scene, which I will not give away because it’s so beautiful, so romantic and very sexy, is the establishment of where they’re going, the new business they’re going to run together, and the ground rules for the business they’re going to operate. They’re going to make sure they have time for their family, and they’re going to have time for themselves, which is very important.”
That Private Eyes ended up resolving Shade and Angie’s ‘will they/won’t they’ romantic subplot meant it was important that West Coast found a way to evolve and accelerate their relationship in a new setting on Vancouver Island.
“Audiences who love the original show and love this relationship are now going to love what it’s become, because we’re giving them everything they wanted,” Segan says. “They wanted them to be together. As I always like to say, the audience knew better than the characters that they should be together, and now they’re going to get that and they’re going to see them in this new chapter. For people who didn’t watch the original show, great, because it’s a brand-new show.”
Reuniting to film Private Eyes West Coast, it took a little time for cast and crew to become familiar with their new relationship status. “When we were shooting one of the first episodes, Shawn was directing,” Priestley remembers, “so I suggested, ‘Why don’t I sit here and, Cindy, you can snuggle into me here?’ Shawn was like, ‘Whoa, what are you doing? Shade and Angie don’t sit like that.’ I was like, ‘Shawn, we’re married now. It’s what married people do.’ So there was a period of adjustment for everybody.”
A star known for his breakout role in Beverly Hills, 90210 and parts in Wild Cards and Call Me Fitz, Priestley has become equally recognised in the industry as a director – a job he first tackled on Beverly Hills. More recently, he has directed episodes of My Life with the Walter Boys, Private Eyes, Van Helsing and Saving Hope. He also picks up two episodes of the first season of Private Eyes West Coast, as well as working as an executive producer.
“There are times when I’m the only producer there on set, and it’s not often, but they come to me and they’ll ask me about things that a producer has to make the call on, and I’m very comfortable in that position,” he says. “Being a producer and a director on the show, I’m there to support the other directors and to help them create their vision of the show. But I definitely don’t get in anybody’s way. Everybody’s creative process is their process, and we have to be respectful of that.”
Segan praises Priestley as a “spectacular partner in every way, shape or form, and a good friend,” noting how he always treats everyone on set with dignity and respect. “When he walks on the set or he’s prepping, there is a calm aspect,” he says. “It sets the tone throughout the entire production and it brings out people’s best work because it makes it possible for them. He’s engaging, he’s collaborative and he’s gracious, and that’s the environment you want for a set.”
With writing already underway on season two ahead of a summertime shoot, Priestley is hopeful this new show can match the longevity of its predecessor – “as long as my body holds out,” he laughs.
“There’s perpetual storytelling for this show, and we hope we’ll get the opportunity to explore it,” Segan adds. “We’re never presumptuous, because that’s not the kind of people we are, but we’re always hopeful, and the hope is that audiences will connect with the show and, once they do, they’ll want to see more of it.”
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tagged in: Cindy Sampson, Global, Jason Priestley, Lionsgate Television, Lloyd Segan, Private Eyes