Chyler Leigh in THE WAY HOME -Season 2 | ©2024 Hallmark

Hallmark Channel’s series THE WAY HOME, now in its second season on Sunday nights, is a bit of a departure for the network. Hallmark is known for its depictions of multi-generational families, and THE WAY HOME, created by Marly Reed & Alexandra Clarke & Heather Conkie, fits this description. Chyler Leigh stars as divorced journalist Kat Landry, who moves with her teen daughter Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) from the big city back to the family farm in Canada, still run by Kat’s widowed mother Del (Andie MacDowell).

Where THE WAY HOME differs from other Hallmark fare is that it is also a time-travel fantasy. When Kat’s little brother Jacob (Remy Smith) vanished into a pond on the farm, the assumption was that he drowned. But Kat and Alice have discovered that the pond actually can convey people to another time. Alice has traveled back to when Kat (played as a teen by Alex Hook) was her age, and met the teen Elliot (played as a teen by David Webster and as an adult, by Evan Williams).

Alice and Kat realize that Elliot, their lifelong friend, has known the pond’s secret and kept it from them this whole time, which causes a lot of conflict. But the discovery also gives them hope that Jacob is still alive and just displaced in time. When Kat comes across an old painting of herself in a nineteenth-century gown, she is inspired to try the pond again – and winds up in 1814.

Leigh spent six seasons as the heroic Alex Danvers/Sentinel on SUPERGIRL, and was a series regular on GREY’S ANATOMY as Meredith Grey’s half-sister Dr. Lexie Grey. At a Q&A panel sponsored by Hallmark at the Winter 2024 Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour, and then over Hallmark’s sponsored luncheon, Leigh talks about her centuries-jumping Kat in THE WAY HOME.

When she first became involved in THE WAY HOME, Leigh didn’t know how far back into the past either her character or the series would reach.

“In the beginning, I thought the majority of my [character] was going to be in 2023. I knew there was going to be a teen version of me, but I didn’t know initially that I would be going back [in time] as well. So, the 1800s wasn’t even a twinkle in my eye at all. That came up as we were getting towards the end of the [first] season, when everybody let me in on what was going on. It was great, because a lot of the stuff that happens in the show, unless they’re really major key points, I don’t know if they trust us well enough,” she laughs.

Speaking of Kat’s teen self, does Leigh work at all with Hook to make the adult and adolescent versions seem similar?

“That’s the wonderful thing. David Webster, who plays Young Elliot, and Alex Hook, who plays young Kat, they’re phenomenal human beings in the first place, but also incredibly talented actors. For myself, with Alex, we had little bits of conversations. It was almost more meeting and saying hello and getting to know each other a little bit as people where we are right now. Because in the beginning of the series, we see a little bit more of Kat in the present.

“So, I [was] still trying to find this character myself and walk in her shoes. So, I didn’t want to throw too much out there, so that we could both pair up our performances and keep some of the little throughline here and there, which I really appreciate. But she is such an amazing study, once we started to see the episodes, little bits and pieces, she got the tiniest little details, and she picked up on so much, which I greatly appreciated.

“My character, Kat, has panic attacks. And I was really grateful that we were able to showcase that in a sense, because I myself have panic attacks, so I know what that’s like. My favorite thing about that was, she asked me what mine looked like, and I was like, ‘I will tell you, one hundred percent.’ She [had done] some research first, but then she came back and said, ‘No, what is it specifically for you?’ She nailed it when she did the representation at the 2000 party. I greatly respect her for that, and asking those questions. I think it’s a really special connection when you can do something like that.

“And it opened my mind up so much more to the fact that when people are watching this, I’m so grateful that they’re finding themselves in these characters in so many different ways. I really congratulate Hallmark and Alex and all the writers that we’re touching on subjects like this, because it’s so powerful and it’s so important.”

As a parent in real life, Leigh can relate to Kat as the mother of an adolescent. “My daughters are fourteen and seventeen, and my son is twenty. I know a thing or two about teenage girls. That protective nature that Kat has over Alice, Chyler has over Sadie. I just adore Sadie so much. But I do feel like that experience, and a lot of the actual memories and whatnot that I have from raising a teenager, it clicks so well. And then, also having my own past with my mother, and my experience is very, very similar to Kat’s relationship with Del. So, I have a tremendous amount to draw from, which I’m grateful for in a weird way. It kind of comes full circle, and I can heal my own stuff through this show, for sure,” she laughs.

THE WAY HOME -Season 2 Key Art | ©2024 Hallmark

There are also other aspects of her personality that Leigh brings to Kat. “My stubbornness is real life is great, because it lends itself to Kat being a journalist and whatnot.”.

Leigh relates that the show runners on THE WAY HOME are open to discussion with the actors. “That’s one thing that we are incredibly lucky for, is the amount of collaboration that we can all have. There’s always an open door for us to be able to go in and talk about things, and say, ‘What is the reason that this is happening? If I’m reacting to something, but I don’t know about it, I haven’t read it in the script yet, can you explain to me, what that might be, so I have a little bit of a heads-up?’ They’ve let us give as much input as we want to have, or as little, to go with the flow.”

The magical pond is a real, physical body of water on the farm location where THE WAY HOME is shot. Leigh explains that her six years of stunt fighting on SUPERGIRL were good preparation for THE WAY HOME, including having to get in and out of the pond.

“It helps me a lot with my coordination. I do a lot of running in this show, always being chased or having to run after somebody. [With] the pond, I got to do a lot of my own stunts. We have some good physicality there. Our stunts department team, they are phenomenal. Because we have to get wet and un-wet, it’s a long process to dry things out, so our stunt teams will step in and ma. ke a couple of extra jumps for us. We’ll film all the way up to that point, and then we can see them jump in as many times as we need, but then we’ll end up having to do the actual jump later. The water is cold and kind of gross, but when you see it, it almost feels like any time we’re actually filming there, it gets even more magical. It’s so special. It’s not the easiest place to film, but again, as a team, we make it work.”

The underwater shots are done in director of photography Thom Best’s swimming pool. “He tents the whole thing out. He just came up with the most phenomenal concepts of it, and we have the same kind of magical ferns. It’s quite brilliant the way that he’s done it, and it makes it easier. Those days, we can just spend all day in the water. Everybody has that idea, ‘Look we know what today is going to be like, so let’s roll with it, get some charcuterie boards, hang on,’ and it’s a skeleton crew and a great, great day.”

The painting of Kat from 1814 was created from an iPhone photo of Leigh. “Our incredible design team took it – it was breathtaking, even to me. I was like, ‘Oh, my God. That’s me? Well, I feel fancy!’ It’s so cool.”

In 1814, Kat meets Thomas Coyle, played by Kris Holden-Ried, whose credits include UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING, THE RETURNED, LOST GIRL, VIKINGS, and THE EXPANSE. In short, he is something of a Canadian genre institution. Leigh agrees. “Yeah. And he is quite the smoke show, I’m not going to lie. He’s an incredibly intelligent and smart, thoughtful, artistic man, and I loved working with him so much. We have such a great time, get along so well, and Watson Rose [who plays 1814’s Susanna Augustine] as well, who’s just a sweetheart. But yeah, he gets it, so much. You can definitely tell that he’s been around that kind of block.”

Some people involved in THE WAY HOME are surprised by the series’ success and the vocal enthusiasm of its fans, but Leigh was already well aware of the singular hold that genre fare can have on its viewers. “I was at the Saturn Awards just the other day. I was approached to present Best Superhero Television Series. and I was like, ‘This is so cool!’ Obviously, it’s very genre-dominated, that’s what it’s about. And the fans from those genres, from fantasy, sci-fi and horror, I mean, I think they’re the best fans on the planet, honestly – so invested, so passionate. There were several times when I was going down the line for press, and people were saying, ‘Oh, my God, we love THE WAY HOME.’ I love the fact that they were saying, ‘It’s really cool, because it fits in a little bit with this theme.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, time-travel. Yeah, we should be at the Saturn Awards, too’,” Leigh laughs.

THE WAY HOME -Season 2 Key Art | ©2024 Hallmark

If Kat succeeds in bringing Jacob back to the present, does THE WAY HOME end, or can it proceed from there? “I hope this show can go for eight seasons. I don’t know. I think we’ve got a lot of room to be able to play, for sure, no matter what. That’s what’s so great about time travel, is we can really go anywhere.”

Leigh isn’t at liberty to name what she’s doing next, but can reveal, “I’m about to jump on a film project from a producing standpoint. We’re getting to that point where we’re doing the pitches. I will have something that I will be talking about very soon.”

What would Leigh most like people to know about THE WAY HOME? “That THE WAY HOME is a welcoming place for everybody, because we try to be as representative as we can for all walks of life. I’m grateful that, just from some of the comments that I’ve heard, that people are really being able to find themselves in these characters in one way, shape or form. So, I guess if you haven’t found yourself in a character yet, hold on, because you will.”

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Article: Exclusive Interview: Actress Chyler Leigh on Season 2 of the hit Hallmark time travel series THE WAY HOME

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