The Way Home season 2 is almost here and stars Chyler Leigh and Sadie Laflamme-Snow are spilling the tea about what’s to come with Us Weekly, including how they handle pond frogs!
In honor of the upcoming season, which premieres on Sunday, January 21, Us Weekly teamed up with Hallmark Channel for a special screening on Wednesday, January 17. The mother-daughter event took place at The Garland in Los Angeles and was reminiscent of the summer set of Port Haven.
Guests enjoyed “The Port Haven” classic martini and “The Pond” spicy margarita specialty cocktails while nibbling on small bites. The garden party location featured twinkle lights, a comfy couch by a fire and a photo booth, which both Leigh, 41, and Laflamme-Snow, 24, enjoyed before going into the theater.
Once inside, attendees previewed the season 2 premiere before the show’s leading ladies answered questions.
“It’s so cool to be working on a show that’s created by women and about women,” Laflamme-Snow, who plays Alice Landry, told Us and the crowd during the panel. “I just feel like you just feel so heard at every turn, and that’s something that has been a huge blessing in the process.”
The Way Home tells the story of three generations of Landry women, Del (Andie MacDowell), Kat (Leigh) and Alice. When Kat and Alice come to Port Haven to live with Del, they must face their family’s tragic past with the help of a time-traveling pond.
Scroll down to see what we learned about The Way Home, its stars and the new season:
Why Did Chyler Want to Play Kat?
“I have a rather strained relationship myself personally with my mother. I haven’t spoken to her in about 20 years. So when you look at the script, there’s these eerie similarities to it that make it quite cathartic at times,” Leigh said during the Wednesday panel, moderated by Us. “But I relate in that sense. But then also I have teenage daughters, so I also have my little baby bird [with Sadie on set]. She’s my baby bird. And so I find a lot of similarities in there.”
Leigh continued: “I think that was a big part of being able to truthfully tell stories. It was actually my first time playing a mom, which Is cool. And Andie MacDowell’s daughter. So, I mean really, it’s kind of like the best of both worlds.”
What Drew Sadie to Playing Alice?
“For me, I feel like right away, I think I did the audition, and I had a feeling about the audition scenes. Alice was really grumpy, and she was really bratty with her mom,” Laflamme-Snow recalled. “And you just kind of know you have somewhere to go with that because you’re hearing what the series and it’s all about family and it’s all about these women making amends.”
She explained: “I met Alice in a place of pure rage. She just was so mad about moving to a small town and her family was so broken and she was just really going through it. And so it was exciting to see kind of like, ‘OK, how are these people going to find their way back to each other?’ So that was exciting, right from the get-go.”
Will Alice Find Love in Season 2?
“I think when it comes to Alice at the end season 1, there was kind of the challenge ahead of her, which is, ‘How do I be in the present?’ So I think we see her in the past as such a loving, open person and she wants to try and bring that to the present,” Laflamme-Snow said. “So there’s some things on the horizon for Alice. I won’t get into that too much, but there’s people.”
The actress teased fans will see “romance for all the different generations of women” throughout season 2. When it comes to Alice, however, Spencer (Kataem O’Connor) could be The One. “From the get-go, he kind of takes her under his wing,” Laflamme-Snow explained. “And so we see that she’s just so excited to see him and we’re like, ‘Oh, she’s turned over a new leaf.’”
What Is Chyler’s Off-Screen Dynamic With Love Interest Evan Williams?
Williams, 39, plays Kate’s childhood best friend and brief love interest in season 1, Elliot, but Leigh told Us their chemistry wasn’t instant.
“I’m so going to throw him under the bus,” she joked, revealing that the first time they were on set was to film a funeral scene. “Evan and I had pretty much just met, and we’re supposed to hold hands as if we’ve been friends forever. We go hold hands, but he literally, he’s going to kill me. He literally just wiped his nose.”
Leigh recalled everyone crying because it was a sad scene. “And he wipes his nose, and he puts his hand down and what a boy, he doesn’t even put it on his pants,” she explained, adding that Williams grabbed her hand without thinking.
“We call each other boogs as in boogers. If that’s in any way, shape, or form telling of our relationship on and off camera,” Leigh revealed. Despite their awkward first meeting, Leigh said she loves him “so much,” calling her scene partner “a wonderful human being.”
Who Is Team Kat and Elliot?
During the season 1 finale, Elliot told Kat he needed a break to find his own way. Leigh confessed that while she doesn’t fault the character’s choice, as a fan of the show, “I’m like, ‘No, but why?’ So it’s heartbreaking.” She teased that she does think “Kelliot” is endgame.
Laflamme-Snow, however, had a different take as Leigh’s TV daughter. “I think that Elliot pill is hard to swallow for Alice. I think when she finds out, or suspects that there’s been some sort of behind the scenes something going on that she didn’t know about, she’s pretty weirded out on so many levels,” she told the audience.
The actress added that Alice is “protective of her mom. And I think sometimes kids will do that to their parents where they can’t let their parent just do their own thing.”
What’s It Like Filming the Pond Scenes?
Throughout season 1 and now in season 2, both actresses jump into a murky pond on their land which allows them to time travel. While the effect is a unique approach, it isn’t as glamorous for the stars. “The pond that we film [in], it is disgusting. It is a natural pond full of frogs,” Leigh revealed. “We’ve learned the entire lifecycle of a frog … and whatever other thing was skittering across the surface.”
She shared that the actual underwater shots are filmed in a pool, but they jump into a real pond. “It was a lot of thought that went into [shooting those scenes], and it was the only way that you could actually see us clearly because yikes, [it’s] milky and green. Ew, that grossed [me out].”
Would Chyler and Sadie Team Up for a Hallmark Holiday Movie?
“I want to say if we could do kind of like a Nightmare Before Christmas kind of vibe. If we kind turned it on its head just a skosh. Then maybe,” Leigh said, hinting that it would have to be a different kind of story. “So could we do that? Maybe not?”
She joked that for now, “we’ll keep to making things super spicy. Little edgy. I love it. We’ll do that,” hinting that “yeah” a Christmas movie could one day transpire.
Season 2 of The Way Home premieres on Hallmark Channel Sunday, January 21, at 9 p.m. ET.
