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NEW YORK, March 5 (UPI) -- Schitt's Creek alum Tim Rozon said it hasn't been easy bidding farewell to Doc Holliday, the immortal gunslinger he played for four seasons on Syfy's contemporary supernatural western, Wynonna Earp. "He just has a special place in my heart, the old cowboy," the 44-year-old Canadian actor said in a recent Zoom interview with reporters.
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Knowing that the show was coming to an end, Rozon savored every moment of playing Doc while filming the final episodes.
"I was aware of it the entire time, so I tried to enjoy every second I possibly could with that character," Rozon said.
"Now that it is more real than ever that the show most likely isn't coming back, to say goodbye to that character is difficult. I think most people understand it is one of my most favorite characters I've ever played."
The series follows the titular, cursed great-great-granddaughter of legendary lawman Wyatt Earp (Melanie Scrofano) as she dispatches the revenants (reanimated villains) that Wyatt killed more than a century earlier.
Doc suffered from tuberculosis and was Wyatt's best friend until a witch gave him eternal life and threw him down a well.
Doc returns when Wynonna comes into her mystical powers on her 27th birthday. He also fathers Wynonna's daughter and fights as part of her demon-hunting team, which includes Wynonna's sister, Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley), and Waverly's fiancee, Nicole (Katherine Barrell.)
The second half of the fourth and final season debuts Friday, but a fan campaign is underway to save the show.
"If that is truly the way it ends, I loved it, especially for my character," Rozon said, crediting series creator Emily Andras with giving Doc a satisfying conclusion.
"She is wonderful and, as a showrunner and a writer, she is very open and she is there for you, if you need her. But I never bug her. I never ask for things. I'm not that person. I put my trust in what [writers] do and I perform."
This means Andras sometimes has Doc say and do things Rozon wishes he wouldn't.
"I understand that. That's part of it," he said.
"But the way it all came together, I just remember telling Emily, 'Thank you. I thought you did an incredible job with this character. You've shown him so much love and compassion and growth.' It was really touching."
He was appropriately evasive when asked a spoilery question about whether the show might wrap with a double wedding between lovebirds Waverly and Nicole and often-on-the-outs Doc and Wynonna.
"Love is complicated and it comes in different shapes and forms and people love differently. They love different things about other people and themselves," Rozon said.
"Doc has come so far by Season 4. He is really done with the old life. I think he understands that, sometimes to move forward, we have to let the old ways die. I think as a society we are learning that."
Sadly, as much as Doc and Wynonna might want to be together, they aren't always at the same places in their lives.
"Wynonna had to save the day, so you couldn't really say, 'Hey, let's start a family and grow barley on a little farm,' like Doc wanted, because she had the burden of the curse, but now the curse is gone," Rozon said.
"For him, he just sees it as: 'Why are you fighting? Did you somehow come to love the fight?' Will she ever let go? Because they can't be together if she doesn't let go."
He described Waverly and Nicole's romance as true love and magic, whereas Doc and Wynonna's rocky relationship is a little closer to real life.
"If you're in a relationship, to be honest, like Doc and Wynonna, you should probably get out," Rozon laughed. "It's probably not the healthiest."
Rozon has been working as an actor for more than 20 years, but his popularity with the enthusiastic fan bases of both Wynonna Earp and Schitt's Creek have catapulted him to a new level of fame.
This has impacted his life in the best way possible, he said, because he is enjoying an unprecedented sense of community, particularly at conventions that celebrate comic books, TV and film.
"Some of my most favorite memories in the past years have been meeting people in person, the fans of both of those shows," Rozon said as the conventions have moved online amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Earpers and Creekers share a positive energy he hasn't seen elsewhere and he works hard to be worthy of their support.
"It's made me conscious to be the best version of myself," he said. "I've seen some amazing things. I've seen a lot of people come out for the very first time and the courage it takes to do that. I've seen fathers that came to the conventions to support their daughters for the first time."
The Earper community is now bigger, better and more important than the show, he said.
"What these people created is incredible and I feel lucky that I got to be a part of that. It's their world," Rozon said. "It is the same with the Creekers."
Should the Wynonna Earp cancellation be reversed or the show be picked up by another network, Rozon expects to be one of the first people to hear about it.
"I'd have to grow a mustache. Nobody told me to grow a mustache, so I don't know anything," he said, alluding to Doc's signature walrus-style facial hair.
"The only thing, at the end of the day, that I really care about is the Earpers, the fandom and the way the story ends now -- if it ends -- I'm very proud of and I'm very happy and I think everybody is going to be very happy.
"If it continues on, I am 100 percent sure that Emily and her team can write another amazing story."
