Meredith Jacobs

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for When Calls the Heart Season 11 Episode 5 “Stronger Together.”]

Lee (Kavan Smith) just needed to not want to be mayor to get the position, it seems, on When Calls the Heart.

With Mike (Ben Rosenbaum) feeling very much like a little brother while negotiating with Benson Hills’ mayor, his sister Maisie (Samantha Ferris), Lee finds himself given the job. “It’s probably a double-edged sword because obviously he ran for mayor before and didn’t win. So I think he feels winning this way is a little cheap,” Smith tells TV Insider as part of our weekly When Calls the Heart aftershow, Heart Beats.

“But then I think after reflection, he probably thinks sometimes that’s just the way the cookie crumbles and you got to take it when it happens,” he continues. “Lee just decides to magnanimously slide into the role because it is sort of what he sees for himself. It’s kind of a calling, and I guess sometimes it doesn’t matter how it comes about, just that it comes about.”

But that is just one more thing that he and Rosemary (Pascale Hutton) have piled on—joining the saloon they now own and her investigation into Lucas’ (Chris McNally) shooting as new professional endeavors just this season!

 “That was the running joke last season,” says Smith. “You’ve got all the professional stuff obviously, and then you’ve got a baby and all that comes with that. In my own personal life as Kavan Smith, I can’t handle that much, just the kids and a job, and I’m tapped, so I don’t know how Lee does it, but one of the things that I’ve always tried to aim for with Lee is sort of this kind of nothing gets him down quality, that, no matter what happens, he’s buoyant and he doesn’t get upset.” He does expect them to “probably wear themselves thin and then realize what’s important. That seems to be the pattern with these two.”

With everything going on in Lee and Rosemary’s lives, it’s more special when they do come together. “We did some scenes this season where we’re just sitting and we improv a fair bit of this, but we just talked like the characters about what we’d done and what we hadn’t done, and there was a weight to it that maybe didn’t appear in previous seasons because I think we’re doing things outside of just Lee and Rosie,” says Smith.

While Lee is “exasperated” with Maisie, Smith enjoys working with Ferris, someone he’s known for years. “She was a perfect choice because she’s a real tough screw, very funny, and she does a great job as Maisie,” he shares.

Watch the full video interview above for more from Smith, including about Lee being mayor, his and Rosemary’s relationship and family this season, whether he’ll join his wife in crime-solving, and his pitch for his character’s next job.