1 of 3 | Left to right, Andie MacDowell, Chyler Leigh, Sadie Laflamme-Snow and Evan Williams star in "The Way Home." Season 3 premiered Friday. Photo courtesy of Hallmark
NEW YORK, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Andie MacDowell says her The Way Home character Del Landry is doubly shocked to learn in Season 3 that Jacob, the son she thought died as a little boy two decades ago, is not only alive, but also traveled through a magical pond and grew up in the 19th century.
"You can imagine a mother losing her son in a way that's so mysterious and believing that he's dead then he's coming, walking through the door dressed in a way that doesn't register as something he should be wearing," MacDowell told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
"In a moment, she sees everything, yet sees nothing because it doesn't make sense, so it's overwhelming," she said. "She is so fully relieved and emotionally happy, but, also, it's very confusing, and to find out how it's happening -- because she's the only one that doesn't know -- is a lot to take in."
Premiering Sunday on AMC and AMC+, Season 3 picks up right where Season 2 ended with Jacob (Spencer Macpherson) and Kat (Chyler Leigh) -- the sister who found him and brought him home -- arriving at the Landry farmhouse in contemporary rural Canada to break the news of his extraordinary fate to their mother.
"It's huge," MacDowell said.
"She feels this desire to protect him and she's already lost him once. She has a huge desire to mother someone that she missed out on mothering, who's now a man, so it's also coming to terms with all of that."
Adjusting to the new circumstances, as well, are Kat's teenage daughter Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) and Kat's on-off love interest Elliot (Evan Williams).
"It's something that Kat and Alice have been trying to make happen for Del for two whole seasons," Laflamme-Snow said about Jacob's return.
"It's caused a lot of chaos and trauma and, also, a lot of misunderstandings with Del and a lot of pain for her, even once [Kat and Alice] came back to Port Haven and everything seemed like it was coming together."
The Landry women had long been estranged until Kat lost her job in Minneapolis, divorced Alice's father and headed home to reconcile with her own mother, who was still grieving the losses of Jacob and her husband Colton (Jefferson Brown).
It was then that Kat, who was trying to figure out her own future, began to dig into the mystery of her brother's long-ago disappearance and how time travel played a role in it.
"There's been a lot of lying, a lot of hiding things, and, so, there's this huge sense of accomplishment because that's all over," Laflamme-Snow said.
"We've done the ultimate thing of bringing her missing son home, but, at the same time, things were looking good for the girls."
Jacob's return -- which, of course, everyone has always wanted -- largely impacts the family dynamics.
"They were finding their stride and they were finding their rhythm and everyone sort of had a place and a role in the family in a way that can can be totally shaken up by Jacob coming back," Laflamme-Snow said.
"That's something to look forward to, seeing those dynamics shift and change, but, ultimately, I think we can all say that we're happy he's home for now."
Season 2 also introduced Sam (Rob Bishop) as a new romantic partner for widower Del.
"I think it's interesting, the whole relationship with Sam," MacDowell said.
"I still am not 100% convinced that everything is as it should be," she added. "There's a mystery there that Del doesn't even know. I could be imagining that, but maybe I'm not."
MacDowell said the courtship makes Del feel young again, especially when Kat discovers her and Sam hooking up and drinking wine in the family barn.
"That's really the tables turning," she added. "I thought that was really charming and a lot of fun to play with."
Season 3 will also see the ramifications of Elliot's first trip back to the 1990s with Alice to revisit younger versions of himself and Kat in Season 2.
Before this, Elliot helped Kat and Alice travel into the past, but he was always locked into the present day.
"He's so important to her in every era, but I think that she has a better understanding of his experience and how much he sacrificed to help her all along," Laflamme-Snow said about Elliot and Alice.
"We can look forward to them coming to understand each other, but now Alice maybe has a more mature appreciation for his impact on her life in general."
This season, Alice also travels to the 1970s and meets younger versions of her grandparents Del (Julia Tomasone) and Colton (Jordan Doww) -- years before Kat and Elliot were born.
"Elliot wasn't there and this is the first time that Alice is traveling to a time where Elliot isn't an expert -- both in having lived it as a young person, and then also lived through it with Alice as her sort of time-travel guru," Laflamme-Snow said.
"That's an interesting shift in their relationship and I think we were all ready to see where that would go for them."
When it comes to the "Will they or won't they?" storyline of Kat dating Elliot, Alice has always had mixed feelings, according to Laflamme-Snow.
While Elliot is a wise and loyal friend to Alice, she doesn't realize he has been trying to give Kat space to sort out her complicated love life, which includes Kat's ex-husband Brady (Al Mukadam) and Thomas (Kris Holden-Reid), a rum smuggler she falls in love with in Jacob's timeline.
"In Season 2, Alice was infuriated that Kat would take Elliot back," Laflamme-Snow said.
"She thought that Elliot had sort of ditched their family and she didn't have the whole picture and she was a bratty teenager, not knowing the whole story, making it all about Alice," she added. "This season, I think she wants her mom to find her place in the present, too. She wants her mom to have happiness."
Witnessing firsthand how well Elliot treated her mother when they were kids helps change Alice's perspective.
"She saw his longing and how much it hurt him when teen Kat chose Brady and left," Laflamme-Snow said.
"She was there [in the past] when he found out about Kat's pregnancy and she saw his hurt in real time and, so, I think she understands what a triumph it is for them to be coming together," she added. "At the same time, Alice is really in a place where she's sort of like, 'I'm all grown up and I don't need you people.'"
Del isn't aware of how deep and complicated the long-simmering relationship is between Kat and Elliot, whom Del has always regarded as a surrogate son.
"Del's a little selfish at the beginning, [complaining] just how fast this relationship feels to her, even though it's been going on forever," she laughed.
"But, ultimately, she realizes that Elliot would be a dream come true for her daughter. She's always felt that way. She adores him."
