Three years is a heck of a long time to keep an audience in suspense. But that's just about how long fans of Emily of New Moon have been on tenter­hooks. Season 2 of the series, based on Lucy Maud Montgomery's books, signed off CBC in March, 1999. Seasons 3 and 4 have been sitting in the can ever since, awaiting a window that allowed the network to bring them back.

Meanwhile, followers of the tale were left in suspense, wondering, among other things, what was to become of the troubled Laura Murray's wedding plans with Ian Bowles. In a pre-launch interview, Sheila McCarthy, who plays Laura, wasn't giving away any secrets. She did say that Seasons 3 and 4 (which CBC is planning to run between now and the end of June, straddling the NHL play­offs and the winter Olympics) contained stories of "big change" for the Murray clan of New Moon.

McCarthy says that some of those changes had to do with the producers' desire to lighten the dark tone that initially surprised viewers who were expecting another Road to Avonlea. The show's darkness manifested itself both in Emily's psychic powers and in the emotional difficulties that landed Laura in an insane asylum. McCarthy was excited to face this challenge. "As an actor I couldn't have been happier", says McCarthy of her character's unfortunate trajectory. "It's like a feast for an actor to do those kinds of parts."

Miraculous events in the upcoming season include the transformation, in a bolt from the blue, of Cousin Jimmy from idiot savant to scientific sage. And there's plenty of drama as the Murrays battle over inheritances, face a smallpox epidemic and deal with the harsh realities of working life in the 19th century. "But you're left on an up note," says McCarthy, "Very much so."

She admits that it "seems like five million years" since the series ended and she looks back at her years on Emily with the same nostalgia a fan feels for L.M. Montgomery's world. "There's such a purity to being there and shooting there," she says of working on the show in Atlantic Canada. "I couldn't do other voice jobs or another movie at the same time, and I think that was good for all our work and for us really forming a company there. I was really sad when it was over. It was a really pure time."

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