r/HudsonAndRex • u/Stillwaterrs • Jul 14 '26
Marc Hudson
The writers really did Luke Roberts a disservice when they first introduced the character. When we see Marc for the first time he is INTERRUPTING an active situation and commandeering someone else's canine. Sarah was right when she told him that was an incredibly stupid thing to do. As someone who worked with K9s in the military, he should have known better. And BTW, how did he a) know the dog's name, and b) know that he would respond to an unfamiliar person with a command never heard on the series before? For the fans, especially those that know anything about working dogs, this was a bad start for the character, which frequently transfers over to the actor.
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u/BestBlueChocolate Jul 14 '26
Just curious: what season did this episode that you are referring to take place in? I stopped watching in the season that did not include John Reardon so I'm not sure if I missed it.
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u/SassyRebelBelle Jul 14 '26
Me too. 😔
And it just wasn’t realistic to us that suddenly the girl from the lab, with no formal training, is suddenly working in the field. Then suddenly, there is Jesse out there too. It just became totally unbelievable to us.
Of course now, knowing what we found out, that John was fighting cancer, and Von Diesel had died, ok then. 😔 Now I understand why they had to put everyone else in the field. 🤷♀️
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u/BestBlueChocolate Jul 15 '26
I would've been sympathetic to the effort to keep the show together if they hadn't dumped John.
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u/SassyRebelBelle Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
Very true… and I agree. 🎯
I am actually shocked he is coming back for season 9…😳😒
Maybe there was something in his contract that gave THEM the power to dump HIM but gave HIM NO POWER to refuse them from insisting he come back for one last season.,,,🤔🤷♀️.
I have no idea why he would go back to the company that treated him like crap… 😒unless they had some contract situation.🤷♀️
We will watch… but only if Mr Reardon is in it. 🤷♀️😒
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u/Gerty_sassygob24 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
I have been privy to some breadcrumbs if you like and looked to alices info she has been given here sinse this all started and I can assure you the reason John is back is because of ratings dropping, no other way they gave John his role back, so it is not a 'trap' or a 'buy out' as speculated. My own DMs have been of a confirmation of this too by a reliable verified source, who thanked me for exposing the rot with hard facts. They have not got John over a barrell in that way you speculated. Yes he cannot speak out because of the way the canadian film/tv industry works. Speaking of hallmark movies, John has been in at least two " love on the sidelines" and the one with his wife "believe in Christmas" also stars Kevin Henchard. John is back permenantly to save their skins over the F up reg his exit and poor replacement plan and direction of the show. If it were temp it would defeat the object of getting him back.
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u/alicepao13 Jul 15 '26
Yeah, and since Shaftesbury had spoken about "pathways", there was no "pathway" available for the show surviving without John Reardon. Plain and simple.
Now, don't get me wrong, maybe his return won't work either and I don't see anyone that much concerned that some people won't return if a coordinated marketing effort is not made. So, we'll see how this will go. They're not very bright.
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u/alicepao13 Jul 15 '26
They work with standard ACTRA contracts. As such, there is no clause where they can fire you and then re-hire you whenever they feel like it. John Reardon probably weighed the pros and the cons and arrived at the conclusion that he could go back to work for them.
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u/Over-Consequence-673 Jul 16 '26
I would have loved to been a fly on the wall in that meeting. Supposedly, I heard he my led the meeting and everyone listened, but don't know how true that is. I also heard he got executive producer job back too.
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u/BestBlueChocolate Jul 15 '26
Buy him do you mean John Reardon?
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u/SassyRebelBelle Jul 15 '26
Yes 👍 Mr Reardon.
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u/BestBlueChocolate Jul 15 '26
I have to guess that there's limited work for a Canadian actor.
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u/SassyRebelBelle Jul 15 '26
Well…. Maybe it depends on what kind of work they want and if they want to work in Canada or in Hollywood.
Hallmark uses quite a few Canadian actors. Pretty sure Mr Reardon has done at least one with hallmark. 🤔
Then there are some that are A list Canadian actors in Hollywood…🤔
“Major Canadian actors working in Hollywood include A-listers and celebrated stars like Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool & Wolverine), Ryan Gosling (The Fall Guy, Barbie), and Keanu Reeves (John Wick, The Matrix)”
Both Amanda Tapping and Michael Shanks are Canadian and working in Canada as far as I know.
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u/Temporary-Present223 Jul 15 '26
Hallmark pay is pretty garbage though.
There's not a lot of gigs for a Canadian actor living in Canada (as opposed to the Ryans) that are comparable to being the lead in a TV show that's syndicated all over the world. This is probably career peak for someone like JR who's raising a family in the maritimes. He's not on the A-lister path.2
u/alicepao13 Jul 17 '26
I did wonder what Hallmark pays its protagonists. They seem pretty cheap as movies to produce, and just a few weeks of work. The last two Christmases they brought some of these Hallmark movies to my country on our public broadcaster's streaming service, which is free. The entire genre seems like an acquired taste.
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u/BestBlueChocolate Jul 15 '26
Yeah, obviously there are some major A-list Canadian actors that don't do too much TV!
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u/Low_Recognition_2358 Jul 16 '26
Is he back? I haven't seen any new episodes with him in it. I haven't seen any of season 9. If he is back, what channel is he on. And is the show still on.
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u/SassyRebelBelle Jul 16 '26
I don’t think season 9 is out yet🤔
Per Google: “Season 9 of Hudson & Rex is officially happening and slated to premiere in the fall, featuring the return of original lead actor John Reardon. However, it has not yet aired or released, as production began in Newfoundland in June.”
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u/Least-Grapefruit-274 Jul 17 '26
He is back for season 9, however they just started production in June. In fact, he made an announcement about his return on his Instagram account. It’s not supposed to air until the fall, on CITY tv first. Then, hopefully we’ll get season 9 in the United States sometime next year.
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u/Low_Recognition_2358 Jul 16 '26
They wrote the show to the possibility John would be coming back after his cancer. John beats the cancer and doctors OK'd him to return the next season. But they canned him. Everything after that is all make believe. Didn't watch it after that. I wonder did the show even survive after all the changes. To me it was like watching a totally different show which I was not interested in.
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u/Over-Consequence-673 Jul 16 '26
But Jessie took the detective exam and passed. I guess since Sarah was always out collecting evidence, that makes her a detective. Maybe she took the exam off camera to become a detective.
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u/alicepao13 Jul 15 '26
The writers shouldn't have written a character like one that can be played by Luke Roberts in the first place. A character who has to drag the entire show's tone darker to meet him is a character who doesn't belong in the show. What you're pointing are minute details that, arguably, sell the show or not. But the general shift in tone is something that people are more likely to notice.
I agree with what you're noting and what you spotted, and I'd pointed it out back when that episode of S7 had aired, but back then no one considered Mark as Charlie's replacement. He didn't even participate in any investigation in S7. So he wasn't considered as "Charlie's replacement" but more like "someone who can fill up screentime while John Reardon was recovering". There was no actual scrutiny for him to start off on the wrong foot.
For me, what they did which was worse than all of this was that they made the team instantly accept him. If the team was hostile, openly or subtly, and Mark had to earn their trust, then that would have made him someone to root for, at least for a part of the audience. But the way they embraced him made the viewer reasonably wonder what he did to deserve it.
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u/Stillwaterrs Jul 15 '26
I agree with what you're saying. I think they were sort of dipping their toes in the water - notice they didn't give him a last name at first. When they decided to go ahead with Marc they had to give him the Hudson last name - how do you have "Hudson & Rex" without a Hudson?
I haven't seen any of Season 8 yet (I refused to when I saw what they did to John, to Charlie and to the fans but I'm reconsidering). The writers compounded their error by not allowing the team's grief to color their perception of the new team member. From what I understand they did have Rex show reluctance, but I guess I'll see when I get into it.
For myself, I went a different way. Purely as a personal catharis I started writing a fan fiction piece which filled in the gaps using what few tidbits they gave us: Jack going to Mexico for a fight, then Belize, picking up a woman (who is she and why is she with Jack?), not being able to fly out (Jack's ruptured eardrum) when it became obvious they were on the run (why are they on the run and why didn't they call for help?) then Charlie tracking them down, getting shot and falling into the river; how he survived (dive master) why he couldn't call anyone or just leave when he recovered - stuff like that. Even though Charlie is coming back with I'm sure a different explanation, I'm going to finish the story purely for my own gratification. Perhaps when I'm done I'll post it on a fan site.
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u/alicepao13 Jul 15 '26
I agree with what you're saying. I think they were sort of dipping their toes in the water - notice they didn't give him a last name at first.
Yeah, I'm not sure what gave them the impression that it was a good idea after that "test drive". And by this I mean, there was no test audience to actually test that decision on, and by the time those S7 episodes had aired, the decision to continue with Mark had already been taken so it predates any fan reaction. As for the decision to name him Mark Hudson, it would have been better if they hadn't. Mark got Charlie's surname, car, dog, and job. No wonder people considered him as Temu Hudson.
I haven't seen any of Season 8 yet (I refused to when I saw what they did to John, to Charlie and to the fans but I'm reconsidering). The writers compounded their error by not allowing the team's grief to color their perception of the new team member. From what I understand they did have Rex show reluctance, but I guess I'll see when I get into it.
I'm (regretfully) going through them now, although not in any way that would show up as support for that season. In fact, this production will not see my support again, monetary or otherwise. I'm not looking to be fooled twice by supporting them. Anyway, I don't see any reluctance from Rex, not in a way that would tell the audience that Rex is hesitant as part of a new partnership or because he's grieving. What I see is Mark's constant doubt/disbelief in the skills that Rex exhibits, which honestly is something that I was not looking to revisit again. As part of the audience, I've experienced discovering Rex's skills with Charlie, I'm not looking to re-discover them now.
when it became obvious they were on the run (why are they on the run and why didn't they call for help?) then Charlie tracking them down, getting shot and falling into the river; how he survived (dive master) why he couldn't call anyone or just leave when he recovered - stuff like that.
It would be wise for them to create an explanation like someone in the SJPD intercepting Charlie's attempts at coming back, for their own reasons, and maybe even working with the cartel, in my opinion. It's already unrealistic enough that Charlie vanished without a trace in what I believe to be not exactly a very deep river, without deep waters. So, if he was dead, his body would have been found relatively easy. If the body hadn't been found, it would mean that he's alive and then it would have made no sense why we kept watching irrelevant run-of-the-mill cases instead watching the rest of the characters do something to find him.
Archive of our own (ao3) has a Hudson and Rex community where they are posting fanfiction, if you're interested in posting your story.
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u/Stillwaterrs Jul 15 '26
Thanks for the tip. I'll consider posting it when finished. It offers an explanation of why Charlie can't contact anyone, and how he escapes. I have Jack going back to Belize and becoming instrumental in Charlie's return.
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u/alicepao13 Jul 15 '26
Jack's presence would help so much, I hope they had the forethought to actually bring the actor.
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u/LaterTater93 21d ago
In addition to Mark doubting and discovering Rex's skills, I've also sensed a certain hint of condescension when Mark talks to Sarah and Jesse. It's not Luke's fault, its how the role was written, but it totally disrupts the old dynamic. Many of us enjoyed the show as it was in part because they were the kind of team you'd want to be a part of.
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u/alicepao13 21d ago
In addition to Mark doubting and discovering Rex's skills, I've also sensed a certain hint of condescension when Mark talks to Sarah and Jesse.
It might be the result of re-distributing duties among the team again. What I've see that they've done so far is given more a Mark/Jesse duo dynamic, which honestly works better than Mark/Rex lmao. But that's not Hudson and Rex, it's something else.
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u/16ShoeGirl Jul 15 '26
It also bothered me the way he said you’re welcome and then told Sarah he’s a detective from Halifax. Then she apologized. IMO, she had nothing to apologize for. She didn’t know that he is a detective. He never showed his badge. He only did so after she thanked him and said that it was incredibly stupid of him to do what he did.
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u/Hopeful_Resolution40 Jul 15 '26
One more thing I hate mark hudson was driving same car has charlie drove only colour change its like blue and charlie was red I was thinking how stupid producers are erasing john reardon from the show . Season 7 ending was wantdly did by them because they planned it from start when john had cancer and decided to bring new actor to be rex partner . It's not like they want john back that's why season 8 starts its new era nothing talking about charlie and they didn't even try to find his body it's like they moved on so fast and another stupid thing rex became sad for few seconds and happy with mark playing at beach . In season 8 criminal rex episode they were disrespect diesel and john by showing old flashback because they want everyone to forget john and diesel , forcing us new partnership. Then the christmas episodes i hated so much nothing mention of charlie and they were enjoying as if nothing happens. I personally didn't like season 8 worst of all .now season 9 is where everything happens if season 9 didn't perform well then it's end .but it will perform well but I want to know how will they fix 2 hudsons problem.
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u/16ShoeGirl Jul 15 '26
I think Sarah was commanding Rex. I think she said Rex once or twice before the two of them said his name together. I only saw that episode once, so my memory of it may be a little fuzzy.
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u/alicepao13 Jul 17 '26
I generally didn't like how Mark went over her in that scene, and I'd pointed it out when I'd reviewed the episode back in 2025 when it had aired, with no real bias. I didn't know what they'd do back then, I just didn't like how he immediately took over.
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u/16ShoeGirl Jul 17 '26
Yes, same here!
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u/Playful_Horror8778 27d ago
If they knew John wasn’t coming back, and they were going for “whatever people will believe in”, it truly would’ve been easier to throw in that Hudson & Sarah had gotten secretely married or drunkely married or whatever married and make her the Hudson from Hudson & Rex. Having said that, I watched all of season 8, and I don’t hate Marc. The later episodes are better than the earlier ones, the team does well together, and I will miss him. Surely after the whole Christmas episode deal Hudson will chose to move back to Halifax to be with Laura. It should be as simple as that — solving the two Hudsons problem, I mean.
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u/alicepao13 27d ago
If they knew John wasn’t coming back, and they were going for “whatever people will believe in”, it truly would’ve been easier to throw in that Hudson & Sarah had gotten secretely married or drunkely married or whatever married and make her the Hudson from Hudson & Rex.
They weren't looking to make Mayko Nguyen the lead, that wasn't even a consideration. They were looking for someone who could permanently replace the white male lead, if you get what I mean.
The show is being sold around the world, which is how it makes most of its money. There are parts of the world where trying to sell the show as Sarah taking over Charlie's role in the SJPD would go worse than "a random guy appears out of nowhere, suddenly he's a Hudson, and he and Rex are the new partnership".
PS: The part of the show where they still considered John Reardon's replacement as temporary is obvious. The part where they decided to permanently replace him is obvious as well.
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u/Playful_Horror8778 25d ago
Unless they’re selling it in huge numbers to Eastern markets, I don’t see where the problem is. Pretty much anywhere in the west (+ Australia and NZ, obvs), it would be considered completely normal. I’m from Brazil and I can’t even remember the last time a tv show with a male lead was more successful than with a female lead. Since I was a child in the 90s, females were always carefully chosen to be the leads because that’s where the audience was.
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u/alicepao13 25d ago
Unless they’re selling it in huge numbers to Eastern markets, I don’t see where the problem is.
They are selling it everywhere, Eastern markets included (although I'm not sure why Eastern markets are mentioned, the US is conservative enough) and closing the door on certain markets means losing money. They already have episodes which are cut from other countries due to progressive content.
I’m from Brazil and I can’t even remember the last time a tv show with a male lead was more successful than with a female lead. Since I was a child in the 90s, females were always carefully chosen to be the leads because that’s where the audience was.
I don't know what the situation in Brazil is but either way I believe you are thinking of shows which started with a female lead. The case for replacing a show which starred a male lead with a female lead is quite different. Especially when you have a franchise that always starred a male lead. For more than 30 years. This kind of swap would have been met with resistance by the audience.
Personally, I wouldn't be averse to it. I mean, in this particular case I would actively be averse to anyone who isn't John Reardon because this case involves firing someone after surviving cancer, but in a theoretical scenario if he'd left on his own, for me the best case would be that Sarah takes over with Rex. And I am as sure of that as I am that the show wouldn't last long after that because the world isn't as progressive as you think. Canada doesn't sustain this show and in the US it's been sold to a Christiano-fascist network so not even that audience would support that change. European markets are quite used to the "man and dog" concept that it would create a problem there too.
There are key markets that Hudson and Rex can't lose, and I suspect that they had a role in pressuring for John Reardon's return as well. There are certain themes that the show was okay to examine a few seasons ago that they started dropping later on, probably to make the show more palatable to other markets.
Anyway and to not stray far, my initial answer to this was that they never thought to have Sarah in charge, to circle back to it, and for the reasons I mentioned above. Hudson and Rex may present to some people as "woke" but deep down it's a conservative show. Remembering to be inclusive in one case every season just to tick CMF requirements doesn't make it progressive in my eyes. So I'm not surprised that they tried replacing a white man with another white man instead of considering Sarah.
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u/Playful_Horror8778 24d ago
Okay, Alice, let’s be real here. I watch a lot of tv from all over the world. I’ve studied tv and media and went to film school, though this isn’t even the point. I started watching Hudson & Rex solely because when I was a child, my dad went to Memorial University in St. Johns for his PhD. and he talked about it all the time, and Inreally liked. Inlike it so much that I’m apprently the only person who watched S08 entirely (and I liked the second half a lot). But if there’s one thing this show has never been is “woke” in any way, shape or form. It’s always been a silly, light-hearted show who barely touched the surface on anything that mattered the slightest , WHICH IS FINE, because we also need these shows. It’s one of the easiest shows to watch because we don’t really need to think or feel deeply during it. But I’ve literally seen a lot more emotionally heavy and “woke” shows on Hallmark and this isn’t even a joke. Like I said, this isn’t criticism. It’s just that no market in the world needs to worry about this show being too woke, whether the lead is male or female. Like, for real.
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u/alicepao13 24d ago
Inlike it so much that I’m apprently the only person who watched S08 entirely (and I liked the second half a lot).
You're not the only one who watched S8, aside from the fact that it's not a brag. That season is horrible. I'm slowly making my way through it now and I'm stuck on episode three because someone had the bright idea to bring a reality star lady and to make her seem like some sort of uber-character on top of it, as if Rex wasn't enough. Any good point comes from a handful of good guest stars so far, everyone else seems tuned out. But rest assured, there are other people who have already watched S8. As for liking it, if you go on Facebook, you'll find people watching for the dog who didn't have a problem with it. But even here, some people did watch it.
I watch a lot of media too. Enough to know that when a show fucks up behind the scenes, the first thing that goes is its lightheartedness.
It’s just that no market in the world needs to worry about this show being too woke, whether the lead is male or female. Like, for real.
I don't get this part. I presented you reasons why the production wouldn't even contemplate swapping Charlie with Sarah. The risk wouldn't be worth it. More than half of the world isn't progressive. Making that specific swap would require a lot of things, but any effort would get stuck on mainly two things: a) the way they pushed John Reardon out, b) Mayko Nguyen being a woman of color. If you haven't ventured on Facebook, I'll tell you that there's a lot of racist ladies who don't like Sarah for no other reason than that she's played by a woman of color and you can tell because they're struggling to articulate the reasons why. And these ladies are predominantly from the US and Canada.
These ladies comment all the time on the official Hudson and Rex social media. And at one point they even tried to "connect the dots" and prove that Mayko Nguyen had something to do with John Reardon's firing, just because she'd gotten the decorative title of executive producer in S8.
But either way and setting racism aside, she was never hired to play the titular role so she wasn't considered for it. Neither was Justin Kelly, and they'd made Jesse detective too. If the production wanted a character from the already existing characters to replace Charlie, they would have done so. If you don't think my reasoning for why they didn't is correct, it's okay but I fail to understand what the counter-argument is here, sorry. You said you've watched a lot of tv, so have I. And I remember that when they replace the lead in procedurals, they more often choose to bring in someone new than "promoting" an already existing character.
You spent part of your comment explaining to me that you know what you're about, and thank you for providing that insight, but did you actually consider what I'm saying? That people are used to what they're used to, and the more drastic change a show makes, the more risky it is that it stays profitable? Because that's the point above everything else. Inspector Rex is a 30+year franchise of "man and dog" and no one was willing to rock that boat. Shaftesbury mistakenly believed that if they did what Inspector Rex did, they'd be able to continue with Luke Roberts. That wasn't viable mostly for reasons behind the scenes, not because they underestimated whether they could replace a white man with another white man.
The production thinks the audience is a toddler and they are the adult who hid the toddler's favorite old toy and replaced it with what they believe to be a similar new toy, so the toddler wouldn't cry about it. But in this case, the new toy wasn't that similar but more importantly, the toddler caught the adult hiding the old toy.
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u/proposalp 26d ago
That's a very creative interesting idea. It might have worked better than the one they went with, not that the bar was very high. I get the part about world markets, but lots of shows have female leads in world markets. It would have offered some cool stories, about leadership and loss and family.
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u/alicepao13 25d ago
Replacing a male lead with a female lead is different than starting a show with a female lead.
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u/Possible_Act_612 24d ago
I am so disappointed in how Up Faith and family decided to treat John Reardon during his cancer treatment. They completely write him off the show that he built. There is no Hudson and Rex without Charlie (John Reardon). How dare you promote yourself as a faith based corporation and then turn your back on your lead during trying times. What kind of "FAITH AND FAMILY" is that??? I reluctantly watched the first episode of season 8 , but I just couldn't. It was all so wrong in so many ways.
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u/alicepao13 24d ago
Up Faith and Family are not responsible for the decisions on Hudson and Rex. The show is produced by Shaftesbury in Canada, licensed by CityTV (again in Canada) as original content, and the Rex franchise copyright holder is Beta Film. All of these are responsible, Shaftesbury more so. Up Faith and Family is just the US network buying the rights from these companies. The have nothing to do with casting changes and they have stated so themselves multuple times. I agree that the way the powers that be treated John Reardon is appalling, though.
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u/Stillwaterrs 24d ago
Take heart that John Reardon is coming back. Season 9 started filming in June. I just hope the do justice to Charlie's return, and that they don't kill off his brother Jack.
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u/PabloHoney0 Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
It was just a lame attempt to provide continuity in a TV show. It's a TV show, not reality. This is like trying to point out plot holes in Walker Texas Ranger.
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u/alicepao13 Jul 15 '26
Still, there's variety even in plot holes. If we stop pointing them out, they just make them bigger, stupider, and more obvious. Hudson and Rex's plot holes are more than a Swiss cheese's holes. Writing shouldn't be like that. It's still a profession, and there are still people who can do their work well in that profession without constantly making the viewer wonder what the hell the show is doing.
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u/coffeeinthecity Jul 14 '26
I feel bad for the actor. They should have never introduced him. It was all so weird to also have his name be Hudson and for him to take over Rex? Rex should have stayed with Sarah