If you’ve spent any time in the fictional town of Millwood, you know it isn’t your typical flashy TV legal setting. There are no glass skyscrapers. No $5,000 suits. Honestly, the cast of Burden of Truth managed to pull off something most legal procedurals fail at: they made small-town injustice feel claustrophobic and personal. Kristin Kreuk didn't just play a lawyer; she played a woman slowly realizing her entire foundation was built on a lie.
I’ve watched a lot of Canadian drama. Usually, there's a specific "politeness" to it, but this show had teeth. That’s mostly thanks to the chemistry between the leads. When Joanna Hanley (Kreuk) and Billy Crawford (Peter Mooney) are on screen, it isn’t just about the case of the week. It’s about two people who are fundamentally broken in different ways trying to fix a system that doesn't want to be fixed.
The anchoring power of Kristin Kreuk and Peter Mooney
Kristin Kreuk was the engine. Most people know her from Smallville or Beauty and the Beast, but Joanna Hanley was different. She was cold. Calculating. Sorta mean at the start, actually. Kreuk played that transition from corporate shark to social justice warrior without it feeling like a cheesy Hallmark pivot. She stayed sharp. She stayed difficult.
Then you have Peter Mooney.
Mooney’s Billy Crawford was the perfect foil. If Joanna was the scalpel, Billy was the heartbeat. He’s a local. He cares. Sometimes he cares too much, which leads to some of the show's biggest blunders. Their relationship—which eventually turned romantic—wasn't the main point, and that's why it worked. It was a byproduct of the work. You see them in that cramped office, surrounded by boxes of discovery, and you actually believe they’ve been up for 48 hours straight.
It’s rare to see a legal show prioritize the "discovery" phase of a trial. Usually, it's all courtroom fireworks. Not here. The cast of Burden of Truth spent more time looking at paper trails and soil samples than they did arguing before a judge. It made the stakes feel grounded.
The supporting players who made Millwood real
A show like this dies if the town feels like a set. It didn't.
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Starring alongside the leads were actors like Star Slade as Luna Spence. Luna’s journey was arguably the most complex of the entire series. She goes from a high school student caught in a medical mystery to a law student dealing with the heavy reality of being an Indigenous woman in the Canadian legal system. Slade brought a vulnerability that made the higher-level legal jargon feel like it actually mattered to human beings.
Then there’s Meegwun Fairbrother as Officer (and later Detective) Owen Beckbie.
Owen wasn't just "the cop friend." He represented the friction between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Fairbrother played Owen with this quiet dignity, even when the script put him in impossible positions. He was often the bridge between the legal world of Joanna and Billy and the lived reality of the people in Millwood.
- Nicola Correia-Damude played Diane, the school guidance counselor who often served as the moral compass when Joanna got too focused on winning.
- Paul Burkett (played by David Lawrence Brown) was the kind of antagonist you hated because he felt like a guy you might actually meet at a local diner.
- Anwen O'Driscoll as Taylor Matheson provided the emotional catalyst for Season 1, portraying the physical and emotional toll of the mysterious illness affecting the town's girls.
Why the chemistry worked (and why it almost didn't)
In the beginning, the show was supposed to be a limited series. Just one season. One case. But the audience response to the cast of Burden of Truth changed that. There was a specific "vibe"—it was moody, it was grey, and it was deeply Canadian.
The producers, including Kreuk herself, were very intentional about the casting. They didn't want "TV lawyers." They wanted people who looked like they lived in Manitoba. When you look at the guest stars across the four seasons, like Sera-Lys McArthur or Dayle McLeod, there's a consistency in the performances. No one is "acting" for the back row. It’s all very internal.
Take the Season 2 arc involving the tech company. That could have been very "CSI: Cyber," which usually feels dated the second it airs. Instead, the cast played it as a privacy horror story. They focused on the intrusion, not the gadgets.
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The reality of filming in Winnipeg
If you’re wondering why everyone looks genuinely cold in the outdoor scenes, it’s because they were. They filmed in Selkirk and Winnipeg, Manitoba. That environment changes how an actor moves. You’re bundled up. You’re shivering. It adds a layer of grit that you just can't recreate on a soundstage in Los Angeles.
The local casting was also key. By using local Winnipeg talent for many of the smaller roles, the show maintained an authentic prairie atmosphere. It didn't feel like "Hollywood North" where everyone has a perfect tan and perfect hair despite living in a sub-arctic climate.
Dealing with the heavy themes
This wasn't a "happy" show. It dealt with:
- Corporate negligence and environmental poisoning.
- The foster care system and its failures.
- Sex trafficking and the exploitation of vulnerable women.
- The intergenerational trauma of Indigenous communities.
The cast of Burden of Truth had to carry these themes without being "preachy." If the acting had been too over-the-top, the messaging would have felt like a PSA. Instead, because actors like Star Slade and Meegwun Fairbrother grounded their performances in personal stakes, the social commentary landed much harder.
I remember a specific scene in Season 3 where Joanna is dealing with her own past while trying to help a mother keep her child. The way Kreuk’s voice cracks—just a little—shows the cracks in her armor. It’s a masterclass in subtle character development.
What to watch if you miss the cast
Since the show wrapped in 2021, the actors have moved on to other things, but they often pop up in similar circles. Peter Mooney has stayed a staple of Canadian TV. Kristin Kreuk has continued her work as a producer, proving she has a sharp eye for the kind of stories that need to be told.
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If you’re looking for that same feeling, you might want to check out Skymed (which features some crossover in the production world) or Diggstown, which shares that DNA of "lawyer fighting for the underdog in a specific Canadian locale."
Navigating the legal drama landscape
If you want to actually appreciate the work the cast of Burden of Truth put in, look at the nuances of the legal cases they presented. It wasn't about the "gotcha" moment in court. It was about the exhaustion.
To get the most out of a rewatch or a first-time viewing:
- Pay attention to the background. The show uses its environment as a character. The decaying buildings in Millwood say as much as the dialogue.
- Watch Luna’s evolution. If you track Star Slade’s performance from Season 1 to Season 4, it’s one of the most complete "coming of age" arcs in modern television.
- Look for the silences. Some of the best moments between Billy and Joanna happen when they aren't talking.
The show ended on its own terms, which is a rarity. It gave the characters a sense of closure that felt earned. They didn't just win a big case and walk off into the sunset; they found a way to live with the burdens they’d been carrying. That’s why it stays with you. It’s not about the "truth" as a concept. It’s about the cost of finding it.
If you’re diving into the series for the first time, don't expect Suits. Expect something much more quiet, much more frustrating, and ultimately, much more rewarding. You're going to see a group of actors who clearly cared about the stories they were telling.
To really see how the cast evolved, start by comparing the pilot episode's Joanna—the one who arrives in a private jet—to the Joanna in the series finale. The physical transformation in how Kreuk carries herself tells the whole story. You can see the weight of Millwood on her shoulders. That’s the "burden" the title is talking about. It’s heavy, it’s messy, and it’s exactly why the show worked.
Explore the filmographies of the Indigenous cast members like Meegwun Fairbrother and Star Slade to see how they've continued to champion representative storytelling in the Canadian arts scene. Their work didn't just start or end with Millwood; it's part of a much larger shift in how we see the North on screen.