HART OF DIXIE: Jaime King Talks Lemon’s New-Found Independence, and Relationships with George, Lavon, Zoe, and Wade

When HART OF DIXIE returns tonight with brand new episodes, viewers will get to experience a new Lemon Breeland: an independent woman.

Gone is the Lemon who spent half of her life as part of “George and Lemon” and was content to be just a housewife — now, fresh off her canceled wedding, Lemon is on a quest to find herself.

I talked with HART OF DIXIE star Jaime King (Lemon) to see what she could share about season 2 of the CW series…

What can you say about the season premiere?
Jaime King: It’s so funny. I’m just so grateful I get to play Lemon Breeland; that I get to be in her shoes for nine months, because she is just a fantastic character. This season is really great and the first episode, you get to see Zoe Hart and I go through some things together. Rachel [Bilson (Zoe)] and I are good friends, so I love it when we actually get to do a scene together and not be a nemesis. So we have some sweet stuff together. But it’s really about Lemon finding out who see is and it’s really funny. The girl has never had a job in her whole 30 years of age. It’s quite funny to see her be, “I can be a media mogul or a celebrity chef or…!” She really doesn’t have any [idea], she’s a big dreamer, and then she realizes, oh shit, I’ve never done anything.

Will we actually get to see her work?
JK: Oh yeah. It is awesome.

Is it a job we would not at all expect from Lemon?
JK: Yeah. There’s going to be a lot of jobs you don’t expect from Lemon, and that’s what’s so fun to play. There’s so much comedy that comes with that. She gets very defiant because it’s like, everyone thinks I can only do mindless tasks and be a housewife and a mother, that’s all I’ve been taught I can be. So she’s very gung ho, so there’s a lot of really funny scenarios that come from that.

How much does Lemon know about what went down in the finale between George and Zoe beyond the actual breakup of her engagement?
JK: She’s always had a sense or a feel, which is always what fueled her thing with Zoe. It’s like that thing when we know something is up between two people. And we just, rather than be like, okay, let’s figure this out, we act in a resentful way. And I think what’s cool about the finale when she punched [George] in the face, it was such a strong move and I wasn’t expecting that.

When you’re on a TV series, they never tell you what’s going to happen, so you’re constantly guessing what the next episode is going to be about. I thought they’d break at the altar, but that, I was never expecting that at all. So that was really fun that she got to end in a strong place.

Do you want to see her be single for a little bit before she tries to figure out what she wants in a partner?
JK: I do! As an independent woman myself — of course, I’m married [now] — I’ve earned my own money, I worked my whole life, I’ve definitively depended more on myself than a man for the success in my life. So naturally, it’s very strange: when you play a character, you love them like you would yourself or a best friend because you’re living in their skin, honestly, more than you are your own. You’re constantly analyzing them, you’re constantly trying to figure out their motivation for doing what they’re doing, you’re sort of falling in love with them every day. Sometimes I wish we could treat ourselves with as much love and care as we do the characters we’re playing.

And so, I wanted that for her, and I was so happy when [HART OF DIXIE creator] Leila Gerstein, who is so brilliant — and I’m not saying that lightly — said that’s what her character is going to be about this year.

Given what George and Lemon went through, do you the think potential for them being a couple again is nonexistent for the next few years?
JK: I think for now.

And how about her relationship with Lavon?
JK: I don’t know! I think Lavon and Lemon have a very strong connection, so we’ll see what’s coming up with that. I know we have a lot of stuff coming, but I don’t know if it’s romantic or platonic or what that is.

Do you hope to explore the Wade and Lemon friendship more going forward?
JK: We will be. And that’s like a main focus of this season. That was a big hit with viewers. Wilson [Bethel (Wade)] and I have a very strong, natural chemistry together as friends and as actors as well, we have a very similar process. So when we were on screen, people really loved that. So that’s something we’re exploring a lot this season, which is really fun. That friendship.

Will there be some family drama?
JK: Yeah, with the family, it’s about her finding her independence from her father, which is her freaking [out] at first, but I think it’s necessary and that’s something you’re definitely going to see.

What do you really hope to see this season?
JK: I really hope to see everybody expand and grow. I hope to see every single character be tested and do things we haven’t seen them do before and do things we haven’t seen in the first season. Because as an actor, I love seeing my fellow actors get to do things they haven’t done previously, and I like when everyone gets their script and everyone is like, oh my gosh, this is going to be so fun and so exciting to do.

And more costumes, clearly.
JK: Oh my God, girl. My costumes are off-the-chain. You should see the way I come into work and the way I leave work. I come in like a beanie, an Alexander Wang t-shirt, jeans and Doc Martens, and I go into the trailer, and it’s so weird because I’m like belle on top and Jaime on the bottom. It’s just very, very strange.

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HART OF DIXIE airs Tuesdays at 8 PM on The CW.

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