Heavy/Getty "The Way Home" cast members Evan Williams, Chyler Leigh, Andie MacDowell and Sadie LaFlamme-Snow at the show's premiere in January 2023
Even before the first season of Hallmark Channel‘s new hit series, “The Way Home,” ended with an emotional season finale in March 2023, the network announced that the sci-fi drama had been renewed for season 2. Fans have been clamoring for details ever since, but Hallmark and the cast have kept quiet — until now.
Filming is underway for season 2 and three primary members of the cast — Chyler Leigh, Sadie LaFlamme-Snow and Evan Williams — took a break to make a rare appearance together at New York Comic Con on October 15. During a Q&A panel, they all agreed the trajectory for the second season will blow fans’ minds.
“The Way Home” follows three generations of Landry women — led by actress Andie MacDowell as the family matriarch — whose past family trauma has fractured their relationships. In the series premiere, Leigh’s character, Kat, and her 15-year-old daughter Alice — played by Laflamme-Snow — return to the family farm and quaint Canadian town of Port Haven where MacDowell’s character, Del, still lives.
When a magic pond is discovered on their land, Kat and Alice are able to secretly travel between the past and present, helping them uncover the truth behind family tragedies and hardship. Williams plays Kat’s childhood best friend and potential love interest who’s been connected to the family — and, it turns out, the pond — for decades.
Hallmark has been given clearance by SAG-AFTRA to continue filming and promoting “The Way Home” during the ongoing actors’ strike, according to Comic Con. And the cast’s foreshadowing about what’s coming in the new season did not disappoint.
Here’s what you need to know:
Chyler Leigh Says ‘Sh** Gets Real’ in Season 2 of ‘The Way Home’
The Comic Con panel featuring Leigh, LaFlamme-Snow and Williams was the first time Hallmark has had a presence at a Comic Con event, designed for super fans of comic book, fantasy and sci-fi entertainment. But executives have seen such a rabid fandom develop around the time-travel story and characters in “The Way Home,” they told The Hollywood Reporter that it felt like a natural fit.
Programming EVP Lisa Hamilton Daly said, “We believe it will resonate deeply with the ComicCon audiences and take the show’s already burgeoning fandom to new heights.”
Attendees did flock to the panel to learn more about the show, with many posting photos of their interactions with Leigh, who also has a huge following from her roles as Lexie Grey on “Grey’s Anatomy” and as Alex Danvers in the DC Comics superhero series “Supergirl.”
While viewers were taken on a wild ride of plot twists during the first season, including glimpses of Kat’s character as a witch in 1814, Leigh and her fellow cast members at Comic Con said the second season is equally thrilling.
“Sh** gets real,” Leigh told the audience in a video of the discussion published by the U.S. Sun.
Though she didn’t even know why she was playing a witch when the script originally called for it, Leigh said it all begins to make sense in the next season.
“It’s part of an origin story that we will come to learn and understand in Season 2,” she revealed. “But it’s incredibly significant being able to be in that world. That part of the time travel gave us an amazing opportunity to create a whole other timeline.”
Asked to describe the second season in three words, Williams said, “Answers…more questions,” while LaFlamme-Snow landed on “Oh my God.”
In an interview with Comic Con, Williams said he was happy to be introducing the show to a new audience.
“We’re really just excited for fans to discover our show, and … discover it for the first time, because it is not at all what people expect,” he said. “As many expectations as we dashed in the first, in the second season, it is tripled. So, get ready.”
‘The Way Home’ Season 2 Quietly Began Filming in August
Hallmark has not released a premiere date for the second season of “The Way Home,” but filming began in the Toronto area on August 21, according to Hollywood North Buzz. Filming is expected to wrap on December 6.
The first season of “The Way Home” had a similar filming timeline, beginning production in August 2022, per a Hallmark press release. The series premiered five months later, on January 15, 2023.
In early October, the Township of Scugog confirmed that the cast would return to Port Perry for several days of filming. Officials alerted residents that equipment and traffic cones would be set up around town for filming from October 3 to 5. Producers said in the announcement that scenes they planned to film included a farmers’ market, a “walk and talk” across one of the town’s intersections, a “heritage celebration” around the gazebo in Palmers Park, and shots inside the “Point Cafe.”
In addition to the main cast, many supporting actors from the first season are expected back for the second season, including Alex Hook, Al Mukadam, Jefferson Brown, David Webster, and Siddarth Sharma. On October 17, Kerry James posted a photo of his trailer door in his Instagram stories.
The first season of “The Way Home” is available to stream via Hallmark Movies Now. It’s also now available on Amazon, Apple TV and Vudu.