‘Transplant’ Star Hamza Haq Teases Bash’s ‘New Environment’ as He and Mags Go ‘Head-to-Head for Their Dream Job’ in Final Season (Exclusive)

Season 4 of Transplant is right around the corner, and star Hamza Haq spoke to PopCulture.com about what will be in store for his character, Dr. Bashir “Bash” Hamed.

In the final season of the Canadian medical drama, Bash is “on the precipice of finishing his residency at York Memorial and officially requalifying as a doctor.”

“With his future uncertain once again, Bash and his sister, Amira, are Canadian citizens now, but are still trying, with everything they have, to build a life in their adopted country,” the logline continues. Season 3 saw Bash deal with a lot, such as giving up surgery, his break-up with Laurence Leboeuf’s Mags, and in the past, fleeing Syria during the war with his little sister Amira, along with much, much more. Fans will soon see what will happen when Season 4 kicks off with a two-episode premiere on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, but take a look at what Haq had to say. (Interview has been edited for length and clarity).

PopCulture: What can you preview for the two-episode premiere of Season 4?

Hamza Haq: At the end of Season 3, Bashir comes back from his stay at the refugee camp, and his relationship with Mags comes to an end because she believes it’d be better for them. So as soon as we pick up almost right where we left off, Bashir’s in a new environment, he’s moved to a different place to provide a little bit more stability for him and his sister and to be in a nice school district and it’s the last year of their residency and in the medical world it’s an extremely competitive environment and where there are usually four spots available for a fellowship, we find out pretty quickly that there’s only going to be one spot available. So, it’s Bash and Mags going head-to-head for their dream job, and then everything else that’s going to happen.

PC: In Season 3, Bash decided not to go into surgery. In your opinion, do you think he made the right choice?

Haq: Absolutely. I think for him to have a more personal approach, where it’s not just in and out, let’s fix the problem. I think he’s just a bit more emotionally attached to people for better or for worse. I’ll go back and say I don’t know if it’s the right decision, but I feel like it was the only available decision for him. So it’s the type of doctor that he’s meant to be.

PC: What can you tease about how he’s doing in Season 4? It’s no secret that he’s done a lot over the course of the series, between the ED, trauma OR, volunteering overseas, and he still seems to be a bit unsure of what he really wants to do.

Haq: Yeah. I think Bashir does so much for the people around him, including his patients. And what is left is he neglects himself quite a bit. And as he’s progressing, he now no longer has that exact responsibility with Mags because they’re no longer together. And now that Amira is a little bit more settled and she’s got friends at school and she’s doing everything, it’s like he really does have to sit with himself a lot more in this season than we’ve seen in the other ones.

So, I think the drone note of the entire season is that he’s really trying to find his place because now the things around him are settling a little bit more. But in the wake of potentially not having a job and the fear of not being employed at this hospital if he doesn’t get a fellowship at York Memorial, he has this sort of hesitation of this was the only hospital that gave him a chance. They ignored his refugee status. And although he has citizenship now, he still has a great deal of insecurity putting roots anywhere because very often they get taken away. So I think he lives in that constant anxiety.

PC: You’ve already talked about this, but he has a complicated relationship with Mags. How are they doing in the upcoming season, between their jobs, and now Mags possibly needing a transplant?

Haq: I think you nailed it there, where it is very complicated. And when you care about somebody to that degree and you see them on a daily basis and you care also about the same things, and you’re just as focused on your jobs and just as ambitious and just as stubborn and just as brilliant, it becomes difficult to avoid each other. And I think that’s the struggle for them to realize that they both need to take care of themselves before they even allow an opportunity to find happiness in each other. And we see that they tried that in Season 3, so they’re just navigating this all the while competing for the same job. So it gets interesting.

PC: I’ve really enjoyed seeing the Syria flashbacks and what it was like for Bash during the war. And the end of Season 3 sees him and Amira finally leaving the country. Is there anything you can tell me about where their journey takes them in Season 4 before they eventually come to Canada?

Haq: We do a little bit of flashbacks to show the journey from fleeing a country. It’s never linear. And we see them where they first landed. They take a boat out to Greece, and then what happens when they land in Crete, and then how they find their way to Canada. That’s actually explored quite a bit. And it was a beautiful — not even tribute — but a beautiful exploration of what so many people all over the world go through. And even when we were filming these episodes, I remember we were filming on the boat, and there was a woman on the boat who started crying while we were changing setups and stuff like that. But it was just these beautiful tears of both agony and happiness and gratitude because she was like, ‘This is what it was like when I left Lebanon 50 years ago. And I remember leaving in the middle of the night, getting on a boat just like this.’

And it’s two in the morning, we’re freezing in Canada, and she’s telling us this amazing story of survival. So they get the opportunity to put, really, her story and the story of so many people on camera. I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to just show that.

Transplant’s two-episode Season 4 premiere will air on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, streaming the next day on Peacock.