If music megastar and “The Voice” coach Kelly Clarkson were to stumble upon the Landry family’s magic pond, as seen in Hallmark Channel’s series “The Way Home,” would she have the guts to dive in?
Clarkson, who’s hosting her last season of “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” sat down with “The Way Home” star Andie MacDowell on June 17, 2026, to chat about the final season of the beloved Hallmark drama. The two stars had a fascinating conversation about whether they’d be willing to leap into the pond to experience another time in history.
Kelly Clarkson Reveals Why She’d Want to Leap Into the Future
“The Way Home” will end its four-season run with the series finale on June 21, marking the longest MacDowell has played a single character — stoic family matriarch Del Landry.
It was pretty clear Clarkson hadn’t watched the show, but she was growing increasingly intrigued as MacDowell explained the premise, in which Del’s daughter and granddaughter return to the farm after years of estrangement, and begin to heal old family wounds. Part of that process, of course, is their discovery of the pond on their property, which can transport them to another time when they dare to dive in.
“I liked the fact that Del didn’t trust them going into the pond,” MacDowell said of her character, who waited three seasons before going in. “I did like that she had this reservation about them going in the pond. She’s lost so much to this pond already, you know. So I liked the fact that she was not, like, pushing them to go in the pond.”
Clarkson then excitedly interjected, “Oh my god. Would you go in the pond if you found out there was a pond? Would you go in the pond? I think I’d have to go into the pond. It would be very tempting.”
“I’d wait until my kids were adults and then I’d dive right in,” Clarkson added, joking, “Yeah. I’d want to be a good mom.”
NBCUniversal“That’s smart,” MacDowell replied. “There’s not a lot of control, though, as to where you go and when you’ll come back. This is the problem.”
“Man, I would pray for the future, as a woman,” Clarkson laughed, but admitted she’d have second thoughts on leaping in if she couldn’t choose which timeline she’d be visiting.
“Yeah, you have no idea where you’re going to go,” MacDowell reiterated. “You know, that’s a problem.”
“And back then is just not a great place for us (women),” Clarkson said, wide-eyed, but MacDowell noted that her co-stars, Sadie Laflamme-Snow and Chyler Leigh, often say they’d love to go back in time if it allowed them to interact with their moms when they were kids.
Andie MacDowell Told Kelly Clarkson She Wanted Del to ‘Soften’ During Season 4 of ‘The Way Home’
HallmarkMacDowell told Clarkson that she’s also proud of the way Del has grown across the four seasons of “The Way Home,” which she really wanted to be evident in the final season.
“Of course, the writers create (the character), so there is this dynamic where you have to respect that,” MacDowell said. “But I really … stood up for myself a little bit more in season four, and I like the choices that I made, because I really wanted to see an evolution for this character.”
“She was rough around the edges, she could be persnickety,” MacDowell said. “And I wanted to soften those edges … they’re there because she loses her son who, you know, he disappears in the pond — but I don’t know that.”
“She’s gone through so much,” MacDowell continued, explaining that Del’s pain “toughened” and “hardened” her. “And by season four, I really felt that she should be a more mature, responsible person who had softened those edges. And she does have a really beautiful journey in this last season.”
Fans are campaigning for Hallmark to give the series another season, or for Netflix or FOX to pick the show up. But for now, Hallmark Channel’s series finale of “The Way Home” is an extended special, airing on June 21 from 9 to 10:35 p.m. Eastern time.
