Bringing “The Way Home” to an end meant wrapping up storylines around various relationships, including Kat and Elliot as well as Jacob and Abby. Because of that, fans got to see a wedding during the finale, but not the one they might have been expecting.
*FYI: “The Way Home” finale spoilers ahead!*
Jacob ‘Needed His Happy Ending in the Present Day’
HallmarkAs fans who watched the finale of “The Way Home” know, “Kat and Elliot finally get engaged in the final episode, but it’s Jacob and Abby Goodwin … who tie the knot, putting an official end to the Goodwin and Landry feud,” according to Variety. “They say their vows at the pond with both families present.”
While speaking to showrunners Heather Conkie and Alex Clarke, Variety asked why they decided to go with Jacob’s wedding instead of Kat’s.
“Jacob was the one who had to sacrifice the most,” said Conkie. “He needed his happy ending in the present day without any risk of thinking he wouldn’t take that step. He’s taking it.”
“We know that Kat and Elliot are going to get married. They’re engaged,” she added. “That would have been too many weddings, but Jacob is the perfect person to commit.”
Clarke added, “The wedding is also very emblematic of where we wanted to end our show. One of the interesting things about the ‘70s and ‘80s timeline this season was showing that there was a time when the founding families were all friends. They sat around tables at the kitchen party and talked about the future — Vic, Tessa, Evelyn, Colton, and Del.”
“Now that Jacob is marrying Abby, that wedding is a representation of all these founding families finally coming back together and being at peace with one another,” Clarke explained. “You wouldn’t have necessarily had that with a Kat and Elliot wedding.”
Would Two Weddings Have Been Too Many?
HallmarkTV Insider also spoke to Clarke and Conkie, and brought up the fact that “it was Jacob’s wedding and not Kat and Elliot’s that we see at the end.”
“I think, as much as it would have been amazing to see that wedding as well, I think it would have been too many weddings,” Clarke said, echoing what Conkie told Variety. “I think that the real thing that everyone wanted to see with Kat and Elliot was the proposal and the putting Susanna’s ring on her finger and her saying yes.”
“And oh my goodness, that scene brings me to tears every time I look at it, it’s doing it right now,” she admitted.
“That was a really emotional day on set,” Clarke also noted. “It was our last day at the farm. We were all a mess, but it was beautiful, and they handled it so well. They were so amazing.”
HallmarkClarke continued by mentioning, “I will say the finale, obviously, I want people to watch it at face value the first time around.”
“The second time around, just watch it thinking that it’s also Chyler [Leigh, who played Kat] saying those lines, and it’s also Evan [Williams, who played Elliot] saying those lines and it’s also Sadie [Laflamme-Snow, who played Alice] saying those lines about the show, especially that last scene at the pond,” she said. “That was really hard to get through for everyone.”
