‘The Way Home’ Stars Chyler Leigh And Evan Williams Talk About What’s Next For Kat In Elliott In Season 3

Hallmark’s hit series The Way Home is back with a third season, and not a moment too soon. The show has garnered quite a passionate fan base in the first two seasons who couldn’t get enough of the convoluted, twisty-turny, time-hopping storylines and the stacked cast led by Andie MacDowell, Chyler Leigh, and Sadie LaFlamme-Snow as the three generations of Landry women. 

The fan base is so passionate that they even persuaded the network to change course on where season three would air. The network reversed their original decision to have the show air first on their streaming service, Hallmark + and then only on the network later in the year. Now, every episode will premiere on Hallmark Channel on Friday nights and stream on Hallmark + the next day. 

Having fans that are so invested is not lost on the cast, as Chyler Leigh explained when she and Evan Williams sat down with Southern Living. “Anytime a show gets past a season one, it’s great. Anytime a show can get through a season two and people are invested and excited about it and you know what you’re doing is paying off, is amazing. To get a season three of a show is a really big deal. And one that we do not take lightly and or for granted at all.”

She continued, “Being in this industry long enough, you know if you can get there, then like yes! We’ve really roped ‘em in. And this season does not disappoint. I think it’s even better than the first two seasons. The stakes keep getting higher and the more questions that are answered, the more questions arise.”

Leigh’s co-star and on-screen love interest Evan Williams chimed in with, “It’s also such a joy and a privilege to be doing a show that people are really taking into their hearts.” Williams also credits great writing for much of the show’s success. 

“I don’t know how the writers manage to pull off this sort of Herculean feat of continuing to build the show in this very complex almost like a Gordian knot way without losing the real thrust of a loving, emotional core at the center of the show. It feels like to me we’ve built a whole new roller coaster from season three but the threads have been there from the beginning.”

He continued, “The whole show is so earned because everything relates to everything else and there is nothing by accident. And so it’s cool to be inside that Gordian knot and to see all the threads weaving through time and how everything is connected. It’s just really rewarding and I know audiences will feel rewarded too. And that’s the most exciting thing.”

Now, if you have not seen the first episode of season three yet, please be warned that the rest of this article will contain spoilers. 

In the first episode of the novel season we learn two things: Kat and Elliott are very much a couple and Jacob has crossed the pond and come back to present day. Oh, and the little detail of Del finally learns about what goes on in the miniature body of water on her own land. 

“To have to explain it to anybody, from the character’s perspective. For them to have to explain it is wild. But to have to do it to the person that this would really hit the hardest, it has to be handled with such delicacy,” Leigh said of her character telling Del (MacDowell) that Jacob has returned and just where he has been all these years. 

©2024 Hallmark Media/ Michael Tompkins

Williams added, “Also, the idea of Jacob returning, we’ve been looking forward to it for two seasons now, but really if you think about it, it’s a snap shot. It’s sorta like oh we want Del and Jacob to be reunited. And if they’re reunited it’s like ‘click,’ that’s the moment. But then time continues. And there’s a whole problem about how do we negotiate this new reality now and do we explain it? How do we make it make sense to our neighbors? And also like Del lost a small child and here comes a man. Not just a man but a man who had to grow up under really harsh conditions. It’s not a cake walk. But audiences know not to expect a cake walk. They want a cake walk, they’re gonna watch a different show.”

As the season opens the viewers feel as if the dance between Kat and Elliott of “will they or won’t they?” seems to be settled. But is it? 

©2024 Hallmark Media/ Peter Stranks

Leigh said, “it’s a continuing journey. The ‘will they? Won’t they?’ But not in a way that isn’t rooted in an understandable way. We were saying, now that Jacob has come home, Kat’s gigantic question is like,  now what do I do? If all those journeys and all those stories have been told as far as we know at this point then the most essential thing is for me to be here, be present, be with you [Elliott]. To fight for you and to try and grow as the adults that we are now.”

She continued, “It’s a lot to have to manage and walk through as any relationship is. But any relationship that’s worth it, then that’s what you make that decision, you stick with that decision. And so I think in the end it will always be worth it. It’s just a matter of how many steps forward? How many steps back? How many up hills? How many down hills?”

“Also I think we see Kat and Elliott making a decision that is at the leading edge of their capabilities. And when you’re sort of an idealist and you’re like ‘we’re gonna do it. It’s gonna happen.’ Again, that is a snapshot and then there is the inevitable life that continues after that. And there’s lots of opportunity for growing and mistakes to be made. Just because we make the decision that we’re ready doesn’t mean that we have the facilities to carry through but I also do think that audiences will be happy to join us for that journey as complex as it is and and as complicated as it can get with different time periods coming in and out because it’s a time travel show,” Williams added. 

The Way Home airs Friday nights on Hallmark Channel.