Colleen Dewhurst, who played Marilla Cuthbert in Anne, had loved her role so much that she had encouraged Kevin to consider doing a series.  However, having seen how well an ensemble cast can work together since his days making Anne, Kevin began to be inspired by the idea of gathering a great team of actors and writing original material for them.

So he went back to L.M. Montgomery’s other novels and short stories, The Story Girl, The Golden Road, The Chronicles of Avonlea, and Further Chronicles of Avonlea, and began to piece together the actors and characters he envisioned for the series.  He started contacting some of the original cast members from Anne, like Marilyn Lightstone (Miss Stacey), Jackie Burroughs (Amelia Evans), Mag Ruffman (Alice Lawson), Cedric Smith (Reverend Allan), Rosemary Dunsmore (Katherine Brooke), and Patricia Hamilton (Rachel Lynde), and they were keen to reprise their roles or take part in the new ones Kevin made for them.

He went back to the broadcasters and pitched them the idea for Road to Avonlea, which would center on Montgomery’s fictional King family and, in the early days, would use two volumes of short stories from Chronicles of Avonlea to form the basis for story ideas.

Kevin says that those novels weren’t written in the same way Anne of Green Gables was, and they gave him enough prototypical characters and neutral material upon which he could create his own world.  As the seasons went on, the characters storylines “grew exponentially” he says.

Additional characters like Gus Pike, Blair Stanley, the Pettibone Family, Louisa Banks and Simon Tremayne were added to the roster and countless famous guest stars visited Avonlea during its 91-episode span.  Many awards and millions of viewers later, the world inspired by Anne was back, much to the appreciation of its loyal viewers.

Be sure to check back this week for more blogs about the casting of the series and behind-the-scenes info about filming locations!