Chad Michael Murray Reveals He Prayed ‘Every Single Night’ for 2 Years for Sullivan’s Crossing Gig (Exclusive)

For Chad Michael Murray, his role on Sullivan’s Crossing is a blessing.

Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE, Murray, 43, reveals he “prayed every single night” for two years for a project like the Canadian romantic drama, which first premiered in 2023 and is based on a novel series by Robyn Carr.

He says his prayers were for “a show that didn’t feel gratuitous, that was very family-friendly, that ended up in a very beautiful location where my family and I felt like we could integrate into the community … with a cast that we’d all get along and everyone would bond.”

“It was a very specific, very detailed prayer that I put out every single night, and then came Sullivan’s Crossing, and here we are going into season 4,” he continues. “S—, it’s awesome. It’s crazy.”

Murray and his wife Sarah Roemer share three children — a son, born in 2015, and two daughters, born in 2017 and 2023.

“Having kids, I’ve been very specific about what I want to do,” he explains. “I want to make sure that I’m around to be a dad. It’s just everything to me, being a dad.”

“I want to be home, I want to see them every day and I want to be a very large part of their life,” he adds of Roemer and their kids.

The Gilmore Girls alum says the days of doing shows that require extended time away from his family are in the rearview mirror of his career.

“I have pushed myself away from all that,” he notes. “I don’t want to do that.”

Sullivan’s Crossing is a reunion of sorts for Murray and his Gilmore Girls costar Scott Patterson.

While Murray only appeared on the first two seasons of Gilmore Girls as Tristin DuGray, Patterson played Luke Danes throughout the show’s entire seven-season run between 2000 and 2007 — including the 2016 limited miniseries revival.

On Sullivan’s Crossing, Murray plays California “Cal” Jones, the local handyman, while Patterson plays Sully Sullivan, the estranged father of Maggie Sullivan (Morgan Kohan).

“It blows my mind,” Murray admits of him and Patterson finding themselves on the same show more than two decades later.

“I remember when I found out that we were going to do this, I was excited to know that I was going somewhere where at least I knew somebody, which is not always the case,” he says. “You end up walking in, and you never know what you’re going to get, so that part of getting this job made me feel at ease.”

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Sullivan’s Crossing airs on The CW and can be streamed on Netflix.