Andie MacDowell brought Hollywood clout to the Hallmark Channel and, in the process, opened the door for other recognizable names.
The move wasn’t intentional, just comforting. When she signed on to “The Way Home,” she considered Hallmark a “safe” place.
“It’s wholesome, you know? You rarely see terrible things that are really disturbing,” she explains. “I have done seven seasons with them. I did their very first television show (‘Cedar Cove’) and feel we have good camaraderie.”
New journeys and new revelations await the Landry family across generations and time in "The Way Home," starring Andie MacDowell and runningon the Hallmark Channel.
“The Way Home,” MacDowell says, “was a reach for Hallmark. It sort of broke down some boundaries they had and really took a chance on something a little bit juicier.”
Originally, the time-traveling drama was developed at Netflix. Lisa Hamilton Daly, the executive who worked with the creators, brought it with her when she moved to Hallmark.
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The cast of "The Way Home" on the Hallmark Channel includes, from left to right, Marnie McPhail, Rob Stewart, Dale Whibley, Sadie Laflamme-Snow, Andie MacDowell, Evan Williams, Chyler Leigh and Al Mukadam.
“She was very adamant about it staying the same tone as we’d already developed it,” said Executive Producer Alexandra Clarke. “We didn’t change one thing about the pilot, which was so incredible. Yes, there may be some darkness in our show, but it’s still a multigenerational family drama, which is what Hallmark does so well. It’s about healing. It’s about hope. It’s about love.”
In the four-season series, MacDowell plays Del Watson Landry, the family matriarch. To find their way back to each other, she and the rest of the family learn about their shared past through time travel.
"The Way Home," starring Andie MacDowell and Chyler Leigh, is in its fourth and final season on the Hallmark Channel.
MacDowell says she was taken with the idea of community.
“I love the idea of the character of the matriarch. That’s something I wanted to experience … and show other mature women they can be this strong, dynamic woman," she said. "But I had no idea where the writers were going to take it. I had so much to learn.”
Del, she adds, was someone she felt she knew intimately. That helped the series stay on track — and weather its time-shifting storms.
“Every season has been a gift,” said Executive Producer Marly Reed. “We went into every season like, ‘We get to expand this story further.’ The real tragedy would have been ending it at one, because one left on such an insane cliffhanger, we never would have been able to explain ourselves.”
From left to right, Andie MacDowell, Sadie Laflamme-Snow and Chyler Leigh on the set of "The Way Home" on the Hallmark Channel.
Now at the fourth — and final — season, the writers have an opportunity to wrap it up. Until that happens, “we will be delving more into the lore of the pond,” said Clarke. “We’re a show where we’ll answer questions, but there’ll always be some that aren’t answered.
“The time travel in our show is not just for the sake of time travel. It’s a tool for healing — the means to an end, not the end.”
From the beginning, Reed said, “The Way Home” wasn’t a show about trying to save the world or undo crazy world events.
“It’s about one family finding their way back to each other," she said.
In the process, MacDowell said, she hopes some of her character’s rough edges will erode.
“Del has had such a load on her shoulders," she said. "I think it would be nice to see some of those edges softened … and to see that she has hope for herself as an individual and not someone who’s having to take care of her farm or other people.”
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“The Way Home” airs on the Hallmark Channel.
