‘The Way Home’: Andie MacDowell Says She Does Something ‘Wild’ in Season 2
Q&A
What’s worse — not knowing and just fearing what happened, or the truth confirming your nightmare? That’s the question for Del (Andie MacDowell) when The Way Home Season 2 begins.
When the Hallmark Channel drama returns on January 21, it picks up right where it left off, with Kat (Chyler Leigh) telling her mom that she knows what happened to Jacob (Remy Smith), her brother who went missing when he was eight years old. But now, Kat has a better understanding of what might have happened all those years ago, because she and her daughter Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) have discovered the pond on their property allows them to travel in time.
But how will Del react to what Kat has to say next? TV Insider spoke with MacDowell about that and more.
I kept watching Del throughout Season 1 for signs she might know what’s going on or suspect or recognize Alice. What can you say about that, and what do you think?
Andie MacDowell: I haven’t asked. They haven’t told me. As far as I know, I feel like the only reason I have any suspicion that there could be [something] or I’ve heard something maybe about the pond was the emphasis of staying away from the pond. But I’m playing it as if I don’t know, because I haven’t been told that I do. And I just don’t think you would even think it. Do you see what I mean?
That’s true.
You wouldn’t think it. Why would you think that? I don’t know. I don’t know that you would search in the back of the recesses of your mind. “Oh, my daughter had a friend. You look like her.” I just don’t even think that concept would’ve come up. I’ve got to think I saw pictures of her growing up. I don’t know even that. I don’t even have the answer because [Kat] left me.
When Season 2 begins, Del stops Kat after says she thinks she knows what happened to Jacob. Is that because she really can’t imagine Kat knowing something that will help, or is she maybe not ready to know? At this point, she has to fear the worst.
She’s been trying to move on the whole time, the whole first season. It feels that he’s no longer here. She has the memorial for him. She’s put it to bed, and Kat keeps coming back. The pain has been so intense. She’s ready to stop hurting. She’s trying so hard to stop living in the past. So I think when she hears that, it’s just her daughter doing the same thing that she’s been doing, and she just pushes it away. I think Del thinks that he died. He’s gone. She can’t fathom anything else. I mean, how could you fathom? What would you think? You can’t think what does happen because it would just be, I think, terrifying thoughts. So for her, I think she thinks he’s dead and it’s just Kat won’t stop. She won’t stop.
Peter Stranks/Hallmark Media
How is Del feeling about her and Kat’s relationship at this point? Are they getting closer to healing that emotional distance between them?
That was a really big component for Season 2. I didn’t know what was the catalyst for the breakdown of their relationship, what was the moment that made her decide she didn’t want to see me anymore, and I didn’t discover it until it showed up. There is something that happened, and I could understand how, even though it was unintentional, after everything that had happened that she had just decided to cut me off. And you’ll get the answer to that in Season 2.
Del runs into a bit of trouble with the farm this season. What can you preview about that and how she handles it because it means so much to her?
One of the things that I found really interesting about this character was the loneliness and the responsibility I think that nobody can really see. And I know what this is in my life because I’ve been a very responsible person. I’ve had to be responsible for so much. And the love that maybe my daughter has for it, I think is different than what I carry because I’ve actually done it. She may throw that in her daughter’s face, but it’s the truth. She has been the person that’s had to keep it going, and that’s no easy feat as a single woman with no one around. So yes, that is an interesting aspect of this season as well.
The new neighbor seems like he’s going to mean something to Del, whether that’s a new love interest or just something someone who encourages her in some way.
What happened last year with the love interest, I felt the writers did such a good job. And I think it’s fun to see a relationship not work and see why it’s not working, how two people come together and they are ill-matched, not good together.
I really enjoyed working with this particular actor. I felt like he has the masculinity that would be a good match for Del because I feel like Del is such a strong person. And I actually mentioned to them the idea of changing the tire, which you’ll see this year. I said, “I think it’d be great. Del meets a guy in the road and he’s changing a tire.” Because to me, that’s Del.
And I feel like the chemistry has been really good and it’s nice to play as a 65-year-old woman — I think it’s really important for us to have those images, for us to see those images, to represent women, that we still are vital and interesting and powerful and strong and romantic. And I do something this year which is totally out of the box for Hallmark in general, but yet still safe enough that I don’t want to say what it is, but it was so much fun, especially at my age, to do something wild and to do it as a 65-year-old woman for other 65-year-old women to see. I forget what episode it is.
But anyway, they came up with some really beautiful concepts for my character, some other magical things. There are some other magical things that happen I think that visually are just really beautiful. And I love these creative ideas that our writers have, these concepts that they have that are just beautiful and they gave me some really nice, quiet moments.
Last year, I was floored when I saw present day Del with her husband that has died [Jefferson Brown’s Colton]. I thought that was so beautiful, when he comes back and they’re together and to see the younger man and the older woman, the vulnerability of that, the loss and the attachment to someone that you loved for so long. I think for Del, that was it. That was her love. So for me, I think it’s not going to be an easy move on to somebody new. I think it’s going to take some work for her to get there. But that’s kind of brought back this year, too. You might see some of that, which I really thought that was beautiful. It was a beautiful moment.
That was one of my favorite scenes from Season 1.
Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, I love that scene. It is so tender. An older woman with the fantasy of her husband. It was so vulnerable. I thought it was really beautiful.
The Way Home, Season 2 Premiere, Sunday, January 21, 9/8c, Hallmark Channel
