She’s traded romance for suspense — and her arrival isn’t just emotional, it’s explosive. With new faces and deeper secrets, season 2 isn’t continuing the story… it’s rewriting the rules

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Murder in a Small Town Chief of Police Karl Alberg might not be the only one with mommy issues.

he Fox crime drama will introduce Cassandra’s mother in a Season 2 episode, and she’ll be played by Virgin River actress Teryl Rothery (aka Muriel Saint Claire on the Netflix series), Soaps.com has learned.

“We’re going to find out a little bit more about Cassandra’s relationship with her mom,” showrunner Ian Weir tells us. “That speaks to who Cassandra is, as well.” Given how little we know about Cassandra’s past and what happened to her in Sacramento, we can only hope that mom’s appearance sheds some major light on Karl’s sometimes closed-off love interest.

Other guest stars for Season 2 include Camryn Manheim (Law & Order, The Practice) as Jocelyn Tait, an iron-tough, working-class matriarch, who has lived her life in the shadow of a family feud and comes to Gibsons for a “Romeo and Juliet-style” wedding; Tyler Posey (Teen Wolf) as Ryan, a former party boy turned holistic health aficionado, who is desperate to leave behind a reckless past; Jamie Chung (Lovecraft Country, Accused) as Lanni Soo, a career-driven and straight-forward Deputy Prosecuting Attorney General, who approaches Alberg with an intriguing case; and Sara Canning (The Vampire Diaries) as Mackenzie Rankin, a woman who organizes a memorial gathering following the death of her younger sister.

Additionally, Noah Reid (Schitt’s Creek) will return as Season 1 serial killer/high school art teacher Tommy Cummins, who is now behind bars, but still has “a few tricks up his sleeve,” Reid teases in the below first look.

In Season 2, “Karl is still very much in love with Cassandra,” star Rossif Sutherland previews in the video. “But they’re entering into fraught territory,” his co-star Kristin Kreuk adds. The pair’s relationship “is challenged as [Cassandra’s]  career and community involvement take her in new and unexpected directions,” reads the official synopsis.

Elsewhere, “Karl’s jurisdiction expands, and he has to contend with an increased caseload and limited resources, investigating cases like a body found at a local wedding between members of two feuding families; a double kidnapping that may mask an even bigger crime; a pop star who retreated to Gibsons for a quiet vacation only to be followed by a dangerous stalker; and many more,” the description continues. Plus, new series regular Marcia Gay Harden stirs up trouble as Mayor Christie Holman, “a practicing doctor, beloved figure in the community and a consummate political operator. She has the best interests of the people of Gibsons at heart, but sometimes lets her personal interests take precedence, as she complicates life for Karl and Cassandra.”