Why Martin Henderson is in NZ: A purely speculative list
Martin Henderson is back in New Zealand, having travelled home from the US and making it through 19 days (yes, 19) in quarantine with his girlfriend, Aisha Mendez.
According to his social media posts, the New Zealand-born actor, and Hollywood hunk, is in Wellington to film something. The question is... what? The details are scarce at the moment, but has the former Grey's Anatomy and Shortland Street star been dropping subtle hints on his Instagram?
In an in no way conclusive, in-depth investigation of his social media feed, we have uncovered the following (highly unlikely) possibilities for Henderson's reasons for filming in New Zealand.
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He's here to film a new celebrity series of The Great Kiwi Bake Off
We all know Covid-19 lockdown is still looming large for many in the US, and for Henderson, 2020 meant a lot of time spent at home.
He didn’t put it to waste though. Instead of putting his feet up, he revealed a fairly competitive edge to fans when he insisted his Virgin River co-star Alexandra Breckenridge take on his baking challenge in a series of quite intense videos on Instagram.
The duo ended up trying to one-up each other when it came to making sourdough – and Henderson even managed to whip up a fairly competent granola.
Could he be about to either launch a Kiwiana biscuit range (Henderson's anyone?) or maybe he’s about to give us all chills when he unveils a Lamington in the Bake Off tent so perfect Madeleine Sami refuses to share it with the other judges when it comes to the taste test.
He's about to shake things up on The Bachelorette New Zealand
Okay, this could be a stretch, especially given the show's just started on TVNZ 2 with new Bachelorette Lexie Brown – and also the fact Henderson is dating Aisha Mendez – but there's no such thing as bad publicity in the reality TV world, and after last year's double Bachelorette quest for love, it's not entirely out of the question that the producers would try and pull another rabbit out of the hat.
In this case, the said rabbit could be Martin Henderson-sized, as he is brought on to the show as potential suitor for Lexie, throwing all the other potential love interests into an existential crisis as they try and cope with a real Hollywood heartthrob in their midst.
The biggest clue this could be happening? In a social media post near the end of Henderson's quarantine, he said "I think the director might reconsider hiring me when he sets eyes on my beard”.
Netflix is making a NZ version of Virgin River
Virgin River's soapiness and easy-to-watch edges have made the show one of the most popular on the streaming service.
The tale of midwife Melinda Monroe (Alexandra Breckenridge) uprooting her city ways to relocate to small town life has already been a massive hit, thanks to its comfort viewing vibe and her chemistry with Henderson, who plays the series’ love interest, Jack Sheridan, a local bar owner with an emotionally tortured past.
Shows creating spin-off series for popular characters is not unprecedented – and Virgin River could easily be a target for that.
How’s this for a stunning twist: Henderson's character discovers some long-lost family in New Zealand, precipitating an urgent desire to relocate over here, to start a new life in Middle Earth – after leaving a heartbroken Mel behind.
Perhaps Netflix could consider pushing Jack into a life in rural New Zealand, leading to the commissioning of the sure-fire hit, Whanganui River.
Henderson's heading back to Shortland Street
Stuart Neilson was one of the original Shorty characters when it began in 1992, and Henderson stayed with the show until 1995.
During Henderson's three years on the iconic nightly NZ soap, Neilson, the ultimate Kiwi heartthrob, was seduced by a middle-aged woman and planned to become a priest. He also made a reappearance in the show's 25th anniversary episode, reuniting with Dr Love aka Chris Warner.
So Henderson's not above revisiting old haunts - and given Chris Warner's just been through a bit of a bad time having been shot and losing his son, maybe Neilson's going to come back to help his old pal through recovery.
Either that, or he's teaming up with Dr Ashley Bloomfield to tour fictional hospitals as part of a teaching aid, where made-up medics educate the public on good Covid-19 hygiene and learn how to scan QR codes. Before they head off to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, and help the rest of the world, obviously.
Henderson's about to make a series about inspirational dogs and their masters
Country Calendar has been a stalwart of New Zealand TV since the country's founding in 1907.
Having now racked up just over 35 million episodes since the first episode was broadcast on 26th September 1907 and still playing regularly on TVNZ, the show's desire to showcase the best of rural life has made it as much of a New Zealand institution as spaghetti and pineapple on pizza and debate over the Aussie underarm incident.
So, given there’s no sign yet of townies’ love for their rural counterparts abating, it could be that Henderson's here to film the first of a new series; Henderson's Heroes, which sees him combine the best of New Zealand country good sorts with one of Henderson's other loves – dogs.
The actor's pup Sammy is a regular infiltrator of his social media, and during lockdown, there were lots of throwback shots showing Henderson and his four-legged friend exploring the world.
With that in mind, Henderson could be off around the land to meet some of the best of Man's Best Friends and their owners. Every episode would give us the warm fuzzies from our furry mates and the characters that live in and around New Zealand. It would be a double whammy of good vibes in our darkest times.
It may even include cameos at the end of each episode from Breakfast’s John Campbell and Matty McLean exalting them all to be good dogs.
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