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NBC Insider Transplant

Transplant's Creator Reveals Bash & Mags' Passionate Kiss Wasn't Their First

After seasons of anticipation, the two doctors are finally together — but their romance officially began off-screen.

By McKenzie Jean-Philippe

After a Transplant Season 2 finale cliffhanger that left the status of Bash (Hamza Haq) and Mags' (Laurence Leboeuf) relationship in the balance, we finally have an answer more than a year later.

How to Watch

Watch Transplant on NBC and Peacock

When we last saw the two doctors, Bash made his way to Mags' doorstep after two seasons of obvious chemistry between them. She answered the door and they gazed at one another before she reached for his hand... and the episode ended. Fast forward to the end of the Season 3 premiere, "Fracture", and it's obvious they've struck up a romance. And spoiler alert?

Mags and Bash shared their much anticipated first kiss.

"Those two actors are so great at the chemistry, and the silent chemistry, and the furtive looks, and all that, and you could write to it  forever and rely on them," showrunner and creator Joseph Kay tells NBC Insider. "It just seemed like when we really thought about what we wanted the long arc to be for this relationship, that what was necessary was to actually put them together and see what happened."

RELATED: This Is Why Dr. Bishop Isn't on Transplant in Season 3

So shippers can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Bash and Mags are officially a couple — for now at least.

"They also see things very differently, and so whether it's work or life, everything they're gonna be on opposite sides of," Kay explains. "And what that lets you do is a relationship that's not static on screen. Even though they connect... they fight in a fun way, and they bump up against each other."

He continues, "And so we just really, truly wanted to see as writers, and the actors too, what it would be like. And it was the right call because in Season 3 we get to explore them as a couple and find all sorts of new challenges and deepening insight into both characters."

Read ahead to find out exactly how Bags — or maybe Mash? — came to be.

Bash and Mags' first kiss in Transplant's Season 3 premiere

Bashir Hamed and Magalie Leblanc talking outside a theater from a scene in Transplant.

After spending the episode exchanging longing glances at each other at York, fans have to wait until the end of the episode for Bash and Mags to address what happened between them in the Season 2 finale.

At the hospital Mags finds an envelope addressed to her hidden inside one of her research books. Later on we discover it was from Bash and held movie tickets for later that night. We then see the two meet up outside a theater for a date. He reveals the news to her that he and Amira are one step closer to obtaining Canadian citizenship, and she excitedly asks if they're on a date to celebrate.

"I feel like we should see the world outside of your apartment," Bash says. Mags then responds, "Because I need to be sure. You know, a person could make a romantic assumption about a movie ticket." 

June Curtis Bashir Hamed Magalie Leblanc Theo Hunter sit and talk in the hospital

Instead of replying with words, Bash reaches for Mags and they share a passionate kiss; their first inTransplant history. On camera, at least. Kay reveals to NBC Insider that they've been together off-screen since the second season finale. 

"It's like they started seeing each other, um, but it wasn't real, you know. They weren't telling anybody and they weren't kind of making it out into the world, you know," he tells us. "So it was probably just after work in her house or his house, and they hadn't let it come out... They're still kind of hiding it because they meet in sort of secret. And so the story that we tell between the two of them, I'd say over the first two episodes of Season 3, has been going on in the background, and now it's slowly just becomes a real thing."

RELATED: How You Can Donate Blood for Transplant's Partnership with the American Red Cross

What's next for Bash and Mags' relationship in Season 3?

Dr. Bashir stands in a doorway with Mags

We will continue to see the couple's romance evolve as they slowly begin to come out of their bubble and let the outside world in. Both characters will begin to open up.

Kay explains, "One of the things between the two of them is that Bash is a very quiet, sort of to himself kind of person he is. And Mags is a sort of heart on her sleeve person. She drags him across lines, you know. She has him do things before he is ready to do things, and they figure it out after."

He continues, "So over the season it has ups and downs, but what we get we get more access to them than we've had before in the show. And it allows us as, as writers, and it allows the show to just explore sides of them and let them be vulnerable and interesting and themselves in ways that we haven't seen yet."

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