Early on in Southern Charm Season 9, a gentleman at a clothing store that Shep Rose, Craig Conover, and Austen Kroll are frequenting notes the uncanny resemblance between Errol Flynn, the swashbuckling star of Hollywood’s Golden Age, and Kroll, the rakish man-about-town that viewers have come to know and love over the last five seasons of the show. While this clothing store salesperson was purely remarking on the physical attributes the two share, he actually may have hit upon something deeper with his comparison. Flynn was a legendary stick man — he’s the inspiration behind the expression “In like Flynn,” which we’re still using more than 65 years after his death — and the budding beer entrepreneur also possesses some of that same savoir faire, which has led to his fair share of on-screen romances, too. Kroll spent a few seasons getting very close to Madison LeCroy, then spent much of last season courting Olivia Flowers, and this season finds himself in the midst of a controversial fling with Taylor Ann Green, his close friend (and Shep’s ex-ladyfriend).

We caught up with Austen recently for a quick Zoom chat, where we discussed the early part of this season, his take on Craig and Paige’s long distance relationship, what he’s been getting out his recent experiences with therapy, and, of course, the Taylor of it all.

DECIDER: Austen, great to see you this morning.

AUSTEN KROLL: Yeah, good to see you, man. Let’s get into it, dude.

So I saw you last year, right around this time. Winter House Season 2 was about to get started, and you were in town for BravoCon. Seems like lots has gone on in your life since the last time we caught up.

Winter House, man, that feels like a lifetime ago, especially with everything that you’ve seen that has kind of gone down recently here in Charleston.

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When we spoke, one of the questions I asked you was about how fans were really into the idea of you and Taylor getting together. And it seems like at some point during the filming of Southern Charm, there were some fireworks.

It’s interesting that you bring that up — you were the first person to actually bring that up, right? You know, the idea that fans on the internet were ablaze after seeing the thing last year with Taylor and I, and I’m talking to her about Shep, and people were really, really keen on that idea. It is interesting, how, you know, confusion, and a little bit of a shoulder to shrug in … it’s a tough thing to ignore, you know? I’m not saying I’m completely influenced by the internet, but I saw it, you know, and so did she, and we were like “What in the world?”

Back in the first episode of the season, you were attending Madison’s, I guess, wedding post-party kind of a thing?

What was that exactly? Like a wedding party for people that didn’t get to go to the wedding? [Laughs]

You seemed to handle yourself really well during an admittedly awkward situation, taking the high road. Can you talk about your trepidations heading into that party?

Yeah, I mean, look. I know how things can be skewed or, you know, to make it look like things are even more more awkward than they were. But I mean, it certainly was a little awkward for me to go in, with head held high and shake this man’s hand so we can move on, all of us. That was the goal of the day. I hope that people who were watching could identify with that awkwardness — it’s not really that normal of a thing to do, to go to your ex of three years’ marriage party. But it was big of Madison to invite me, so I was like “Let’s do this thing” and move forward.

I think you I think you acquitted yourself very nicely in the situation. But to make things even more awkward, Olivia was at that party, as well. Your breakup was relatively fresh at that time. Did you have any idea she was going to be there because it seemed like she didn’t know you were going to be there.

I figured that she was gonna be there. I hadn’t seen her in a while, and I was interested in how it was all going to go down. I guess I didn’t know that she harbored so many ill feelings, or, you know, whatever was happening there. To be honest, I was a little more nervous to see Olivia than I was to see Madison, right? With Madison, I knew that it was just gonna be like “Hey, hello, congratulations, nice to meet you” and move on. But with Olivia, I hadn’t seen her in awhile, and it was awkward, and that makes me a little sad.

I can empathize. You also attempted to extract Craig from the situation that he found himself in with Taylor, where he sort of caught a lot of the feelings that maybe she had intended for Shep. Can you tell us a little bit more about your perspective, in that moment, seeing how all that went down?

I think it was classic deflection. Taylor is younger than the rest of us. And sometimes she doesn’t know how to correctly convey what she’s feeling. And for some reason, she decided to take it out on another relationship. I was kind of just shocked.

What were your goals, if you will, for this season of Southern Charm, as it relates to the narrative surrounding you and how you wanted to present yourself?

Going into the season, I had high hopes that it was just going to be like a different season for Austen. Being in therapy, and trying out to figure out some things, inward, so that it could help me progress in my life in the long run. You know, exploring why relationships hadn’t worked out and what I can do differently. Basically, I wasn’t going to focus on a girl this season — which is the first time all the seasons that I’ve been on the show that it’s not courting or dating [I’m focused on] — but of course it ends up happening anyways, whether I liked it or not. As much as I try to move on, people won’t let me and I get sucked into things that I just want to move on from. It was just an interesting one.

You and Craig are really tight these days. You’ve got your podcast (Pillows and Beer), and your friendship seems to be very strong. With Craig, and where he and Paige are at in their relationship, do you see them taking the next step in their lives and their relationship?

Look, this is what I will say about Craig and Paige. It may not be the popular opinion, but I just think the long distance thing is working for them. Someone like Paige likes to have her space, and while New York is seemingly far away, but door to door it’s like three hours. Craig makes a lot of time to go up [to New York], especially in the summer — he basically lived there — and if that is working for them, then I don’t even know why it’s a question. I don’t know why everyone is poking and prodding as to whether they’re happy or not because she doesn’t want to move to Charleston? So what! They’re not even engaged yet, she doesn’t have to move to Charleston. To me, if it’s working then don’t fix it. And in my opinion, it’s working.

Southern Charm Season 9 episodes are Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo. Episodes will be available to stream next day on Peacock.