Ready to head back to Bluebell?

Hart of Dixie Season 4 kicks off tonight, with our residents pretty much where we left them. Zoe is trying to get back Wade, Lavon and George are each hoping to win Lemon’s heart, Cricket has come out of the closet and, as you’ll see in Hart Of Dixie Season 4 Episode 1, things start brewing quickly.

It was the perfect time, therefore, to check with series creator Leila Gerstein. 

Where are we headed in the new season? What will be the biggest challenge facing our favorite character? And will Rachel Bilson's real-life pregnancy play a role on the series? Scroll down for excerpts from our exclusive Q&A...

Hart of Dixie Photos from "Kablang"

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TV Fanatic: What can you say about where we pick up when the premiere episode begins?

Leila Gerstein: We started off a day or two after season three ends. Lemon is off on her cruise for Belles and Bachelors and we are a couple of days after Zoe has told Wade that she loves him and will not stop until she gets him.

TVF: What is Zoe’s biggest challenge in getting Wade to take her back because he seems pretty firm on not doing that?

LG: Wade is the biggest challenge in that because he doesn’t want her back and I think we’ll come to learn what is really holding Wade back from being with Zoe.

TVF: What were your objectives for that relationship going into the new season because they have been kind of back and forth throughout the run of the series? Is it about a new chapter or a new level?

LG: It’s time for Zoe and Wade to get over there issues and to be together. I think that they’ve both learned and grown and they’re both, at this point beginning in season four, ready to embark on what can be the relationship for both of them. Zoe really reached it at the end of season three, I think, when she finally realized that he is the one for her. Wade has realized it a long time ago, he’s been burned a lot and once Wade gets over his fear these two are destined.

TVF: There’s a moment in the premiere when Zoe’s in the water and does a slow-mo hair flip as Wade watches.  Was that an intentional throwback to the first season when Wade did the same thing? I think everybody remembers that very well.

LG:  Oh, yeah. In the script it even says, “A la Wade in the heat wave episode.” Yeah it’s an intentional throwback. It’s to show everyone things are reversed.

TVF: Let’s talk about the Lemon/George/Lavon because definitely again, you’re taking it to a whole different place which I wasn’t expecting but I really like where you’re going with it. Can you talk about them and how it’ll impact the friendship between the guys?

LG: These are really good friends and they would both be there to be each other’s wingman were they not going after the same girl and now they find themselves in not just a love triangle but in the same love triangle they were in in season one, which is I think so frustrating and so annoying to both of them.

In the first half of the show back, their antagonism and frustration with each other definitely gets in the way, and coming down the road, when Lemon comes back with adorer number three these two are going to have to team up to get rid of him.

TVF: We do get to meet Henry, played by Ian Anthony Dale. He seems pretty perfect on the surface. Is that something we’re going to kind of whittle away at as we get to know him a little better?

LG: He seems to be perfect on the surface. Doctors Without Borders and he saved orphans from a fire and he’s got lore and legend surrounding how amazing and perfect he is and the whole town is buzzing and taken over with all these rumors. He’s amazing, he’s perfect and that is salt in the wounds for both George and Lavon and that drives them crazy. No one can be this perfect so they’re going to try to prove that he’s not.

TVF: And you have a gay character in Cricket, which is exciting! What will her biggest challenge in dating in Bluebell?

LG: In the first episode she comes up with a list of eligible lesbians in the area and it’s very short. She feels a little bit nervous about her romantic prospects but by the end of episode one, she meets someone and we’re going to tell that story throughout the course of season one. Cricket is nervous about how everyone is going to react and in true Bluebell fashion they love her. They accept her and love her and there’s no judgment.

TVF: Tell me about Brick’s romance with Shelby and how, with her return, how long he’ll be able to hide her from his mother.

LG: Grandma Bettie is back and with Lemon on her cruise Bettie sets her sights on Brick and fixing Brick’s love life but Brick gets an unexpected visitor in the form of Shelby, Laura Bell Bundy, who is really the love of his life, although she is much younger and cuckoo. So they will rekindle and episode two is all about finally Grandma is going to leave and he has to keep this secret just for one more day. Can he do it?

Hart Of Dixie Season 4 airs tonight at 8/7c on the CW. New episodes begin airing on January 16 at 8/7c on The CW. 

Jim Halterman is the West Coast Editor of TV Fanatic and the owner of JimHalterman.com. Follow him on Twitter.