At the ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas, stars of “The Way Home” gathered for a Q&A panel with fans. Fans had a huge surprise when ATX TV announced they were going to air season 4 episode 7 early as part of the event.
The new episode was met with cheers and gasps. And without giving away any spoilers, I can definitely say that you will love the episode. Some big questions are answered, and new cliffhangers are dropped that will leave you talking all through the coming week. There are going to be some pretty heated discussions!
After the episode aired, Chyler Leigh (Kat), Evan Williams (Elliot), and Sadie Laflamme-Snow (Alice) joined moderator Emily Longeretta of Variety to talk about the show. One of the first questions that Longeretta asked concerned a sensitive topic: the show’s cancellation.
Chyler Leigh Encouraged Fans to ‘Shout Out to Netflix’
While the cast assured fans that they’ll be impressed with how much is packed into the season, Leigh also noted that “a Landry never gives up hope” when it comes to bringing the show back.
“The industry is not an easy one to navigate,” Leigh said. “And so we had to just kind of go with the flow, in a sense, and everybody put their heart into it… You know, a Landry never gives up hope. So we always, always wonder, and maybe, you know, shout out to Netflix.”
Laflamme-Snow jumped in with an enthusiastic “yeah!”
And Leigh added: “You know what I’m saying.”
Hallmark announced the cancellation of “The Way Home” in November. And ever since, fans have been pushing for another network to pick up the show.
If you’re interested in helping with that push, you can sign a petition for the show’s renewal that now has more than 11,000 signatures. You can also visit Netflix and fill out a form to request a fifth season of “The Way Home.”
Leigh Said the Showrunners ‘Had to Prepare Almost Two Seasons in One’
HallmarkWhen asked when they found out the show was being cancelled, Leigh hesitated a bit and gave what seemed like a nervous laugh before jumping in.
“We were told little grumblings here and there in the beginning,” she said. “And Alex and Heather — again our showrunners — and our writers, all of our writing team, they had to prepare almost two seasons in one. Just to kind of be able to see if they could put all the pieces together… They very much did… You will see.”
Williams said that due to the nature of the industry, there’s always a question about whether the show will be renewed nearly every season.
“The television industry is so rough and tumble all the time,” he said. “And unless you’ve really been on a set, you don’t really understand how close to calamity every single day is. It’s like hanging by a thread most days. And so the idea that we would have a story that can continue another season is always up in the air. And the problem — or the challenge — of writing a time travel story is that you need to make it complex and you also need to cover your bets all the time.”
He added: “I think every single season, (the writers) were … as the season was coming together during the writing … trying to triangulate and get the information on, ‘Does it feel like it’s going to continue?’ So much of that is the feedback that’s coming during the creation process… The fact that they were able to actually finish each season as it went along and still leave the opportunity for the story to continue in a way that felt like a greater art, I’m so gobsmacked and proud of the writers for that.”
Laflamme-Snow agreed that a lot happens from here on out.
“You will not believe how much we fit into the rest of the season,” she said enthusiastically.
Williams said he’s proud of how the show has been wrapped up.
“As far as the season coming to an end and the show coming to an end, I couldn’t be prouder of the way that we have brought it all together,” he said. “And I know that the writers, they put their blood and sweat and tears into it and did their absolute best… All of the cast and crew feel the same way.”
