‘The Way Home’: Is Nick’s Claire Alice?
What To Know
- Fans of The Way Home speculate that Nick’s mysterious fiancée Claire might actually be Alice as an adult, due to hints in the show and the pond allowing the Landry family to time travel.
- The showrunners have acknowledged the theory and why they included a moment in the finale between them.
It’s a theory that fans had long before the, as the showrunners put it, “cheeky” moment in The Way Home finale: After Alice’s (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) time with the teen Nick during one of her trips to the past via the pond on the Landry property that allows certain family members to travel to when they need to go, there’s a reason there’s so much mystery around Claire, his fiancée now in the present. And according to one theory, that’s because she’s actually Alice as an adult.
In the finale, Claire is once again brought up, when Nick (Kerry James), who’s buying the boat from Del (Andie MacDowell), remarks to Alice that he and his fiancée are going to make a lot of good memories on her, be a regular Del and Colton (Jefferson Brown). Alice asks if she’ll ever meet Claire. Nick says he’s sure she will, one day.
The fact that Alice is currently a teenager certainly lends credence to the theory that she’s not Claire. Yes, they knew each other when both were teens, but it does feel like they moved strictly into “she’s his friend’s much-younger daughter” territory (and this is Hallmark). Plus, that would mean that at some point, she’d be traveling back in time and staying there — and leaving behind the rest of her family — for this relationship? The series showed her moving on from Nick and in a love triangle herself, ultimately ending with what looked like a possible future for her and Max (Dale Whibley). That being said, it is possible that Claire is someone who’s connected to the pond or one of the town’s families in some way.
The showrunners even acknowledged to TV Insider that that was them leaning into the theory that fans have had. “That’s us being cheeky because there are some who actually think that Alice is Claire and vice versa. We left that open,” Heather Conkie explained, with Alexandra Clarke adding, “We leave it open because you never know. There’s never say never, as we say, never say never. And we were just being very cheeky.”
Fans certainly have theories about how it could be possible — and why Alice used that name.
Someone on Reddit noted, “You can rearrange the letters in ‘Claire’ to get ‘Alice R,'” and then another user commented, “Del’s middle name is rose and Kat gives Rose as her name to Colton but I’m not sure if we know Alice’s middle name. The boat is the Delilah Rose. That said – I don’t think it’s the name thing at all! (Though Claire is a popular time travel name from Outlander & The Time Traveler’s Wife.) Alice already knows that Nick is with someone named Claire. That leaves 2 options: She (eventually) goes back to the early 2020s and bumps into him. She would know at that point she can’t say Alice because she knows he hasn’t seen her so she grabs the first name she sees which is Claire and then realizes what she’s done and how the pieces fit together, that she is Claire. She figures it out at some point and introduces herself as Claire when she meets him because she knows that’s how it has to happen to keep the secret until Nick learns about time travel. Technically there’s a 3rd option that Nick has known this entire time but I’m inclined to think we saw him learn about the pond & then he went back to Claire & then learned the truth.”
On the other side, one Reddit user suggested, ” If this show gets picked up for a future holiday special or another season on Netflix, the writers could pivot and make Claire Griffin’s daughter. Someone on here noticed when Nick came down from the boat he had Griffins camera strap – he could have found it in the boat – BUT it is a possibility for a future story.” In that same thread, someone else wrote, “Claire is no one. Nick made her up to help Alice move on.”
But what do you think? Let us know in the poll and comments section below.
The Way Home, Streaming Now, Netflix
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Nick would never date another Landry and the showrunners confirmed that Alice was not with Max at the end of the series.
They want us to believe Alice is Claire, otherwise that final scene between them would not exist.
I vote yes because it is what was shown on screen.
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B
Umm, Alice & Nick didn’t just know each other, they were in love. And I don’t think you understand that time travel allows for them to be together.
Adult Alice ended up returning to & living in PH.
At some point before S1 begins, she TT back …She knows her Teen self is still in Minny. She knows no one will see her - and if they do, it doesn’t matter. Neither El nor Del have ever seen Alice - they have no idea what she looks like, even as a teen
So, Adult Alice pops into PH for nostalgia’s sake, & runs into Nick. Sparks fly….she calls herself Claire. Nick is primarily out on the water, for his yacht business, so that means “Claire” can still primarily remain in her own time in PH.
They date. Nick has never been serious about anyone b/c subconsciously he’s never gotten over Alice. He doesn’t even tell his moms about her until they get engaged in S1.
Nick clearly has a home base when he’s not yachting, & that is where he and “Claire” hang out when he’s home. When he’s not, “Claire” goes back to her own time
She breaks up with Nick to send him back to PH, then calls him to return to her, triggering his discovery of TT. When he sees her, he knows she’s HIS Alice
Everytime Nick subsequently appears in PH, it’s because “Claire” needed him to be there. He knows more than anyone, thanks to her, and you can tell later on - especially in s4- that Nick is being overly coy, as if he’s subtly preparing the family for the truth. I think he and “Claire” will tell them once Teen Alice leaves
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J
Alice is Claire. How is this even a debate?
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Alice does as Nick suggests and spreads her wings. She will eventually come back to PH and to him in the future... it's very clear from that final scene what they want viewers to take away from it.
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B
I’ll add:
The last two Nick and Alice scenes
are not just at the very end of the Finale, so already significant- they both anchor Alice’s story - those are the last scenes of HER story
And
TWH really got away with
a 40 year old telling an 18 year old
“You know you love me, Alice”
And the thing is, the way Nick said it was joking, so no one really thought anything of it - it’s brilliant !
And because Alice said “I do…in my own bizarre way”, she also wasn’t taken seriously
But there it is…!
And she responded quickly…
it wasn’t awkward at all, either …they’re at the point where they’re so comfortable with each other
Nick SAID it because he knew from “Claire” that she still loved him - she never stopped, she just moved on as best she could.
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L
What ever happen to Coles brother?
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