The death of Logan Echolls on Veronica Mars at the end of season 4 has rocked fans to their core. The jaw-dropping twist happened just after Logan and Veronica — a.k.a. LoVe — got married. Fans were left devastated as they said goodbye to a character that had been on the show since its debut in 2004. HollywoodLife chatted EXCLUSIVELY with Jason Dohring himself to discuss the reaction to the season 4 ending, Logan’s transformation over the years, and more.
Jason admitted that he hasn’t “looked that much” at the fan reaction but said he was “disheartened” when he initially learned of his character’s fate. He discussed the evolution of Logan, who went from the show’s antagonist to a beloved character. He said he’s “thankful” he got to play a character who was “so meaningful to so many people.” Jason also revealed whether or not he thinks Logan would approve of a Veronica and Leo relationship in the future.
Now that season 4 is out and everyone knows the ending. What’s your reaction to how people have responded to Logan’s death?
Jason Dohring: Well, to be honest, I haven’t looked that much, but I know I was somewhat disheartened when Rob [Thomas] initially gave me that news and it was just obviously being part of such a creative, cool show has been so awesome over the years. I think that’s probably the part I’ll miss the most, just being part of that guy, that creation, the great writing, the story. That is probably what will be missed the most on my end.
Veronica Mars has had an interesting history. It was canceled and then it was a movie and then it came back for season 4. So for you, what’s it like saying goodbye to the character for good now?
Jason Dohring: It was such an awesome experience. Like the castmates are just awesome to be around and they’re just really good people. I think Rob does a great job of casting from the top down. I think I’ll certainly value those friendships and obviously creating a role that I feel I got to play sort of fresh out of high school. I got to play this dream kind of character, what turned out to be a multifaceted character that was so meaningful to people. So I think in that way, I’m proud of that and I’m thankful that it was so meaningful to so many people.
Logan’s been through an incredible transformation over the past 15 years. He went from that bad boy to a man who was working on bettering himself. What was your favorite aspect of diving deep into that transformation and experiencing it over 15 years?
Jason Dohring: I almost think it was more diving deep into the initial guy, to be honest with you. That was the part that was so foreign to my own life, you know, as this party guy who was super volatile with heavy emotions. I feel like this last sort of layer that was added on, the military and such, was a little bit more straightforward. Although he still has that stuff underneath and I think you’re adding, hopefully, a layer onto the character, not creating a new one when you do something like that. But you know, I think that I really enjoyed that first aspect of him and really being all over the map, you know what I mean? And adding charm and wit and sarcasm on top of that, it turned out to be quite a memorable character for me.
Do you think that Logan would approve of Leo eventually for Veronica?
Jason Dohring: Oh, you know, I think Leo’s a great guy. I think that there’s a lot of great people on the show, you know what I mean? And, obviously, if you’re being just a fan of the show, you’d want to see her happy, you know? And I think that’s the case with Logan as well. Seeing her be able to achieve every potential that she has and wants and really wants to fulfill, I think that would be what you’d want in any sort of a partnership.
I know it’s hard to pinpoint a favorite scene, but is there a scene from over the years that sort of sticks out to you? Or something you remember the most?
Jason Dohring: Boy, I mean maybe it was like behind the scenes, you know what I mean? There were some scenes that were great, but sort of filming those scenes, like the really personal scenes, the romantic scenes where you feel like there are aspects of it being touched with a magic, cool quality to some degree. Which is always so unique, like for a profession to be able to be involved in something like that, that creates that kind of thing. We even had the director come up after one of our takes and was just kind of like dancing around. She was like, “Did you guys feel that? That was magic.”
So what is next for you?
Jason Dohring: I did an independent movie with Billy Baldwin and Peter Vack from Mozart in the Jungle that will be coming out. It’s a family drama. I have another project that I guess hasn’t been announced yet that I’ll be a part of coming up. I’m auditioning for and just looking out for quality projects because I think there are so many of them these days and there are great roles out there. There’s just great quality everywhere you look.
And my final question for you is: what has the character of Logan meant to you?
Jason Dohring: I was in acting class two, three times a week studying with a dude from New York and he was a big fan of the older actors like Montgomery Clift and [Marlon] Brando. So I would just watch those films and took from them what I liked and put it in my own work. Like the compassion of Clift or Dean or the brokenness. I feel like as you’re in this profession, you’re sort of taking from all different kind of avenues and places and you can get things from anywhere. What somebody says, what a writer says, a piece of music, anything, you know? So I feel like just watching that when I was first coming out of high school and then I got this character that I could put everything into. You couldn’t really fill him up because he just kept having new avenues and new aspects starting out as the antagonist. Then they added the father relationship that showed where his family’s coming from, which showed the pain and that was reflected in Veronica’s life as well on her side with a broken family. There was shared compassion and then there was a romance that was born out of protection and love. I think that that made it very special and it wasn’t just a fiery romance. It was like it meant something and you cared about that person. I think that was mutual through her character and mine. You’d have fireworks from two emotional people with a very headstrong sort of integrity and determination. I think it just made for just such a well-rounded character. I mean all the credit goes to the writing staff of putting everything there and saw the possible storylines evolving.