There Was 'An Air of Pregnancy on the Set' During Final Season, Showrunner Says
Babies were on everyone’s mind in the final season of Chesapeake Shores. Between the dramatic arrival of Kevin and Sarah’s first child and Jess’s surprise pregnancy announcement in the series finale of the Hallmark Channel drama, the O’Brien family was definitely growing. The same was true off-screen as well. Several of the show’s stars were either pregnant while filming the final episodes or had recently welcomed new babies.
Several ‘Chesapeake Shores’ stars were pregnant during season 6 filming or had just had babies
Chesapeake Shores showrunner Phoef Sutton recently chatted with TV Insider about the end of the Hallmark series. He broke down what happened in the Oct. 16 series finale, including Jess’s (Laci J. Mailey) baby news. It was an especially moving moment, given that Jess had mixed feelings about parenthood because of her own complicated relationship with her mom, Megan (Barbara Niven).
The show “always kind of intended” to eventually have Jess become a mother, Sutton said. But the Chesapeake Shores team couldn’t have predicted that most of the show’s leading ladies would end up having kids or getting pregnant around the time that season 6 was filming.
“It was particularly helped by the fact that literally everyone who was of pregnancy age this season, the actresses all got pregnant or had babies,” Sutton shared.
Both Mailey and Jessica Sipos (who plays Sarah) “had babies right at the beginning of when we shot this season,” Sutton went on to say.
“Meghan [Ory] and Emilie [Ullerup] got pregnant through the course of the season,” he added. “So there was just such an air of pregnancy on the set that it felt right that [Jess] would accept being a mother and want to go with that.”
Jessica Sipos opened up about returning to work after having her second baby
Sipos welcomed her second child, Dru Evren, in late March. (Her first, Woods Theoren, was born in April 2020.) A few weeks later, she returned to work on Chesapeake Shores. She opened up about the emotional experience on Instagram.
“Going back to filming only 4 weeks postpartum has been so wonderful but also tricked me into thinking I’m not as freshly postpartum as I actually am,” she shared. “I’m so thankful for the people I’m surrounded by on set who have not once made me feel self-conscious while experiencing the sleep deprivation, postpartum skin, and my postpartum body. It’s allowed me to yet again embrace this beautiful stage, the 4th trimester.”
Meanwhile, Ullerup was preparing for the arrival of her second child ahead of the show’s series finale. “I’ve got four weeks to go,” she said during a Facebook Live (via YouTube) ahead of the last episode. “I’m hanging in there. I’m ready. Now I’m just really excited. I just want to meet her. It’s a girl. We have a boy. We’re just really, really, ready.”
Meghan Ory had hyperemesis gravidarum while filming ‘Chesapeake Shores’ Season 6
Ory, who plays Abby O’Brien on Chesapeake Shores, also got candid on her social media about what it was like to film the show’s final season while pregnant with her third child. She battled both severe morning sickness and COVID-19 while working on the last batch of episodes.
“Well that is a wrap on #chesapeakeshores after 6 seasons! I started this season with #hyperemesisgravidarum and ended it with #covid -it has been quite the run!” she wrote on Instagram in early July.
“Thank you so much to our amazing cast and crew for having so much patience with me while I tried not to barf on anyone,” she added. “Thank you to my amazing hubby @johnny_reardon_ for holding down the fort and being my rock —and our two, yes two Nannie’s for all their support. With mom and dad both on tv shows, two Nannie’s was a must!”
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