The Way Home is the Hallmark Channel’s first new original series in seven years, and, when its first season premiered last year, marked a major shift in genre for the network known for wholesome, friendly-friendly programming: the supernatural.
The series, currently airing its second season, has emerged as one of cable TV’s most watched series on Sunday nights, suggesting that the network’s loyal viewers are on board with the unexpected element of time travel.
The Way Home centers on three generations of the Landry family. After years of estrangement, caused by a tragic event in the family’s past, they reunite to live together on a small Canadian farm. There, mom Kat (Chyler Leigh) and her daughter Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) discover one of the property’s most unique features: a pond that allows you to time travel when you dive in. (Never seen that on Zillow…)
While journeying to past time periods, Kat and Alice begin to unravel emotional family mysteries—all unbeknownst to matriarch Delilah, who goes by “Del,” played by Andie MacDowell. MacDowell portrays Del in different time periods, but is the grounding force among the show’s supernatural elements: the stalwart widow tending to the farm and her family.
Speaking to journalists at the Television Critics Association press conference in Los Angeles, MacDowell said that she valued the strength of the character she plays on the show—especially, at age 65, in a period of her career when the industry tends to ignore and devalue the talent and worth of actresses.
“People my age often thank me because I’m still representing them, because we get left out a lot,” MacDowell told journalists. “I just think women are thankful to still be on the screen at my age because if you watch television, quite often my generation gets left out completely. And I'm just glad to be able to still be working and to play an interesting character, and to, you know, show up for everybody else.”
It’s not lost on her that, as a celebrity and brand ambassador, she gets to travel to glamorous events with L’Oreal, and then contrast those experiences in this fruitful stretch of her acting career where she has played parts in series like The Way Home and 2021’s Maid.
“I think I have a lot more freedom now at my age,” she said. “Women go through a really difficult time after they turn 40 because the world starts to chip them away. Men are elevated as they age, but women are not elevated. And it’s well-known that a lot of women in their forties and fifties struggle in our business.”
“But the great thing about where I am right now is I don’t have to pretend to be that anymore,” she added. “I’m just fortunate that I do L’Oreal because I get to go out and be glamorous too. But I don’t play a character [in this show] who’s glamorous at all. But she is dynamic and interesting and strong. And so I have these dual lives going on for me at my age at 65. But I do think that not only do people appreciate seeing me glammed up in L’Oreal, but representing them on a show that is really interesting and that the characters are fascinating.”
