Trace Adkins thought he killed his Monarch co-star, Susan Sarandon while filming one romantic scene for the new TV series. The Grand Ole Opry member can laugh about the moment now, but he admits at the time he was terrified, after realizing he may have infected his on-screen wife with COVID.
Adkins reveals they tested everyone for COVID every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but he had unfortunately already started filming on a Tuesday morning when he found out he had tested positive.
“Tuesday morning, the first thing I did that morning I was kissing Susan Sarandon,” Adkins tells CMT. “And I was kissing Susan Sarandon when they burst into the room and told me that I had COVID. I said, ‘Oh my God, I’ve killed Susan Sarandon.’”
Fortunately, Sarandon didn’t become ill, although Adkins felt under the weather for a bit.
“She’s had like eight vaccinations, so she didn’t even get sick,” Adkins recalls. “I got a little sick for a couple of days, but I, oh my God, I feel so bad. I thought I’d killed Susan Sarandon.”
Adkins and Sarandon play country music royalty Albie and Dottie Roman on Monarch. The singer concedes that he was nervous to star with Sarandon at first, but those fears were soon laid to rest.
“I quickly realized, oh my God, she’s so professional and so good that she’s gonna carry the scene,” Adkins tells People. “So, if you don’t throw up on yourself, you’ll probably be OK because she’s gonna do all the heavy lifting. I just swam in her wake the whole time and had a ball.”
Fortunately, it wasn’t too much of a stretch for Adkins to play the role of Albie, since many parts of his character are eerily similar to who the 60-year-old is in real life.
“He’s a no-nonsense kind of guy, and I’m kind of that way too,” Adkins tells Fox News. “He’s not very animated, and neither am I. We say what we’ve gotta say, and don’t have to yell it … just kind of move through this life as softly and peacefully as they’ll allow us to, but when they don’t – we’ll do what we’ve gotta do.”
Monarch will premiere with a special two-night event on Sunday, Sept. 11, immediately following the FOX NFL doubleheader, between 8:00 and 9:00 PM ET. The show will then move to Tuesday nights, beginning on September 20, at 9:00 PM ET.
