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Summary
- Collider’s Perri Nemiroff recently visited the set of The Way Home for Season 3.
- While there, she got the opportunity to chat with Chyler Leigh about what to expect from the new season, which kicks off on January 3rd.
- Leigh touched on what to expect from Kat and Elliot’s relationship, how Jacob coming home changes the game, and loads more!
The Way Home hits the sweet spot in an especially important way when it comes to series storytelling. The hit Hallmark show, due to kick off its highly anticipated third season on January 3rd, successfully strikes a pitch-perfect balance between giving fans answers while raising new questions in the process.
At the end of Season 2, one of the show’s biggest questions finally got an answer; will Jacob (Remy Smith and Spencer Macpherson) ever find his way home? After a whole season of trying to solve the mystery of his disappearance and then yet another focused on figuring out if and how to bring him back from the 1800s, Jacob finally makes his return to the Landry farm in present day. However, such a game-changing moment sparks a multitude of new questions. Much of Kat’s (Chyler Leigh) arc has been focused on finding Jacob and trying to bring him home. Now that that’s complete, what are her top priorities? Jacob’s return will also, no doubt, change the Landry family dynamic significantly. Can Del (Andie MacDowell) finally live happily ever after now that her son is home sweet home? And then, of course, there’s Kat’s long-awaited romance with Elliot (Evan Williams). Is the duo finally moving full steam ahead or could Kat’s 1800s connection with Thomas (Kris Holden-Ried) rock that boat?
In mid-November, I was lucky enough to get to visit the Toronto-based set of the show. Given the team was busy filming the final two episodes of Season 3 while I was there, much will be saved until the tail end of the season airs, but there was still ample opportunity to collect curious Season 3 teases from series creators, Heather Conkie and Alexandra Clarke, and the cast, including Kat herself, Chyler Leigh.
What Are Kat’s Top Priorities in Season 3?
And is one of them Elliot?
Yes, Kat’s main mission of finding and bringing Jacob home is complete, but she’s still got a wealth of complications and challenges to sort through. Leigh explained:
“I think something new for this season for Kat is having to really decide how to split herself into so many pieces, because she's dealing with so much from a love, a friendship, from family interactions, and everything, that this year it's almost like she's spread even thinner. It's like her trying to find the pieces of herself amidst all the different times, because there are a lot of times. There are a lot of different years and eras this season.”
One especially significant time for Kat proved to be 1814, for a multitude of reasons, but a big one being the unexpected spark between her and Thomas Coyle. While it appeared that Kat would finally solely focus on her relationship with Elliot moving forward near the end of Season 2, the revelation that Thomas was actually alive in 1814 called that into question. I asked Leigh if we'd see that rock the boat for the pair in Season 3. She laughed and noted, “You already know the answer to that question. It definitely rocks the boat.”
However, that’s not the only hurdle Kat and Elliot will have to overcome as a couple. Leigh teased:
“That's one of the things that I really love about this season is that the audience is gonna get to learn more about Elliot as well, his upbringing and his story. So, let's just say [spoiler] definitely shakes the both of them, Kat and Elliot, in a way [that's similar to the] realization that Del has with, ‘Are things really the way that they are, or was I only seeing things from one perspective and now I have to kind of reevaluate a whole lot?’ So there's a lot of re-evaluating, and Kat, being such a lover in general, definitely has to prioritize and accept the reality of situations where, what happens will always happen, and how that ends up guiding her decisions to move forward or move on.”
How Will Kat and Del Handle Jacob’s Return?
"You've got two fiercely protective women, and you can't help that kind of getting in the way sometimes.”
Image via Perri Nemiroff
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Speaking of Del, she’s about to have her world rocked in the biggest way imaginable. Her son, who’s been missing since 1999, is home. A wonderful turn of events, no doubt, but one that’ll pose its own unique set of challenges — for both Del and Kat. Leigh explained:
“The thing about our show is that the more answers you get, you're left with even more questions, right? We do see Jacob coming back into the fold, and we're all trying to make life happen for him because we still see him, in some ways, as the little boy. Kat has to have that transition of seeing him now as a man, but she's had at least some of that time with him in Season 2 during the 1800s stuff where she kind of helped make the whole thing happen for him to come home. So that's one thing for Del, in particular, is not seeing him as a little boy. So we both, Kat and Del, have to really reconcile that in a lot of different ways, and Jacob has to advocate for himself, saying, ‘Hey, I'm capable of figuring some of this stuff out, too.’ But you've got two fiercely protective women, and you can't help that kind of getting in the way sometimes.”
MacDowell has been soaring in The Way Home since day one, but Leigh also teased that given what Del goes through this time around, Season 3 will feature even more showstopping work from her than usual.
“Andie, watching her this season, having even more depth to her character and the workload she had this year ... the way that Andie can literally fall into this scene, that can be devastating and crushing, and then they yell cut and she's like [laughs]. She just has her Andie cackle, which is just this amazing, infectious laugh. But to see how quickly and effortlessly she can jump right into that depth, those deep, dark places? I've always admired her career. I've always admired her as a woman, but just to watch that and see her so powerful and have so much openness, and she's such a wonderful scene partner, but she's also become a very positive and encouraging influence in my life personally. And this is a really big year for me that I really needed that on a personal level, and she’s showed up every single time. I just see more and more of the wonderful woman that she is, and then also get to really enjoy it and encourage her as the incredible actress that she is this year as well.”
Image via Hallmark
MacDowell isn’t the only one upping her game in Season 3 in a very special way. Leigh herself has seen her craft as an actor evolve right alongside Kat’s arc in the show.
“I had a scene, actually on Friday night. I wouldn't say it's a first, necessarily, but it was a very deeply heartbreaking, emotional scene. I was able to, like I was complimenting Andie on, switch expression and feeling. I had literally seconds to be able to do it, to desperately try and encourage and make somebody believe that this whole thing is gonna work out when, in reality, Kat is very much struggling, knowing that, ‘Oh, this is about to go down. This is about to be really serious.’ And so I had a moment of looking at this person and saying this in the scene, have to turn around, and within seconds I had to drop, just lose it entirely, and I was able to connect and I was able to go there, and I kind of was just like, ‘Oh.’ I mean, I know I can do it, but there was an ease to it. I think it's also because the show is ending, for the season, and it's lots of transitional time, and as an actor, as a human being, I'm terrible with transition, so I've got a lot that I can pull from, but it was something where I was like, ‘Wow, I'm capable of doing it that quickly. I can connect that much.’ And that, for me, was a big accomplishment.”
Image via Perri Nemiroff
Looking for even more on The Way Home Season 3? Stay tuned! We’ll have spoiler-free on-set conversations with MacDowell and Sadie Laflamme-Snow for you soon, and even more behind-the-scenes details dropping on Collider all season long.
The Way Home Season 3 begins airing on Hallmark Channel on January 3rd at 9 pm ET/PT. Episodes will be available to stream the next day on Hallmark+.
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The Way Home
Three generations of strong and independent women living together in the small farm town of Port Haven embark on an enlightening journey none of them could have imagined as they learn how to find their way back to each other.
English (US) ·