There are police dramas, dark and fast-paced, and there are more lighthearted dog films; occasionally, a show comes along that seeks to carve a niche somewhere  between the two. Hudson & Rex follows the high-stakes pursuits of sharp major crimes detective Charlie Hudson (John Reardon), and his partner Rex (Diesel vom Burginwald). Formerly with the K9 unit, Rex saw his previous handler killed; Hudson stepped in to save the dog from euthanasia and the two fell into a natural partnership. Along with their department, they navigate cases ranging from hostage situations to an art theft murder, scouring both the upper echelons and abandoned corners of St. John’s Newfoundland to bring their suspects to justice.

The Herald spoke with the show’s lead, John Reardon of Continuum and White Chicks, at the CityTV studio in the week before the show’s March 25 premiere.

Innis Herald: In previous interviews, you’ve described the show as having “action with heart.” Can you tell me a bit about that?
John Reardon: “Action with heart” is one of the catchphrases that we use with the show. There’s a lot of action in the police world, but then we try and mix that in with relationship stuff between myself and Rex, [and] between all of us as a unit. So it’s a combination of wanting to have these exciting sequences where we push the envelope because we’re doing it with a dog, but we also want people to like the characters—watch the characters grow and change, and care about them.

IH: Could you describe the dynamic between the central characters?
JR: Kevin Hanchard plays our superintendent [Joseph Donovan]. He doesn’t play a stereotypical boss; he’s very hands-on and always trying to help as opposed to coming down on us. So he’s very much a part of the team. Mayko Nguyen plays our forensics expert [Dr. Sarah Truong], so she analyzes the evidence that Rex often finds. Justin Kelly’s our tech expert [Jesse Mills], and does everything millennial related. And then Rex has special talents with his senses that nobody else has, so he picks up on things.

IH: You’ve been filming in Newfoundland. How are you finding that?
JR: I love Newfoundland. I’m from Halifax originally, so it’s really nice to be back on the East Coast and it feels very familiar. St. John’s is very similar to Halifax. I love the people there; everyone’s very welcoming to us.

IH: It’s a bit of a homecoming, then, because you’re based in LA now.
JR: Yeah, exactly. I go back a couple times a year to the Maritimes, but I’m never back for more than a month. My son was born in LA and this is the longest he’s been able to come back too, so he gets to see family.

IH: I heard there was an interesting anecdote about how your son’s name played a role in you taking this on.
JR: My son’s name is Hudson, and he was born ten months before the production. It was actually the first thing that caught my attention when I read the script, was that there’s got to be a little bit of… Serendipity? Yeah, definitely.

IH: What’s been your favorite thing, setting this apart from all the other projects you’ve worked on?
JR: The group that I’m working with, and Diesel and the dog team—Sherry Davis, who’s the trainer and Diesel’s owner. Our show is obviously different from a lot of cop shows, but it’s also different from a lot of cop-and-dog shows that there’s been in the past, because we try and shoot with Diesel in as much of the scene as possible. He’s integrated into everything that we do, and I think that makes it a little bit more realistic.

IH: He really is part of the family, would you say?
JR: Oh, absolutely.

IH: Do you have any memorable moments from filming with Diesel?
JR: We really bonded when he met my son, and that was fairly early—he met my son right before we went to camera. My son loves him and wakes up every morning and wants to go see Diesel, so that was pretty great. I also remember when I was doing a scene with Diesel and I went down to pet him. He gave me a lick, but licked me right inside my mouth—which was a little unexpected.

IH: Did you train with him beforehand?
JR: I did. It was very quick, because I got to St. John’s four or five days before we went to camera. So we spent every day before we went to camera getting to know each other. We put in as much time as we could in the beginning to start to grow that trust. Because I think it’s the trust that makes the relationship happen.

IH: The show was based on an Austrian one. Did you do any prep with that, going into the role?
JR: It’s based on the Austrian show Inspector Rex, [which] went for about fifteen years in Europe. And I feel like Hudson & Rex is a little bit different, even though it does very much stick to the rest of the model. I actually made a choice to not watch [Inspector Rex] until we finish shooting the first season, just because we were trying to find our own voice for the show. I knew that if I watched it I’d have that in my head. But I want to watch it after the first season, because I get so many comments from people about how much they love Inspector Rex.

IH: Does that put any pressure on you, then, coming up with the remake of it?
JR: Nope, I don’t think so. I think we definitely want to do justice to the show Inspector Rex, but I think we’re also creating our new thing. I think that it will appeal to a really large audience because of the dog, and because of the stories. So no, I don’t feel a lot of pressure, but I do want people who loved the old show to love this as well, and think that we’ve paid good homage to it.

IH: For those who aren’t familiar with the original, what are two other shows you could describe this as a cross between?
JR: Do you know Turner & Hooch? It’s probably a bit older. CSI with a dog? [Or] Criminal Minds with one of the members of the team being a dog.

Watch Hudson & Rex on Mondays at 8 on CityTV or stream it online at CityTV.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.