Pop-Culturalist.com

Chyler Leigh and Evan Williams are two of the extraordinary actors who star in the must-see multigenerational family drama, The Way Home.

The Way Home tells the story of three generations of women— Kat Landry (Chyler Leigh), her teen Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) and Kat’s mother Del (Andie MacDowell)—who are all strong, willful and independent. More than twenty years prior, life-changing events prompted Kat to move away from her small, Canadian farm town and she remains estranged from Del to this day. At a crossroads in her life, Kat moves back with Alice to her family’s farm though the reunion isn’t what Kat envisioned. When Alice and Kat unwittingly discover the ability to travel between the past and present, mother and daughter are determined to unearth the truth around the earlier tragedies as they try to change the course of events. Kat’s childhood friend Elliot (Evan Williams) is there for them in both eras as they navigate their journeys across time, helping the three women find their way back to each other.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Chyler and Evan about The Way Home Season 2, how the show balances its emotional resonance with levity, exploring the complex relationships and dynamics, and more.

PC: Chyler, one of the benefits of television as a medium is the opportunity to grow with a character over an extended period of time. As you head into Season 2, is there a particular aspect of Kat that you are most excited about delving deeper into?
Chyler: The 1800s, for sure. That becomes a whole new experience and journey for Kat. We really worked very hard to create this entirely different world and that spans across the board. Even the lighting is different. Our DPs really differentiate each era that we’re in from set to set. It’s absolutely beautiful. We were able to take the 1800s and not make them the idealistic 1800s where you think of these beautiful, big puffy dresses and all that stuff. We’re like, “No, we’re homesteaders,” so it’s dirty and gross. I had to run through a potato field, which I feel like makes me look like a goober. You’ll see that when you watch the show.

Evan: Tators.

Chyler: I’m still embarrassed about that. But you see the origins of the families of Augustines and the Landrys. I’m so excited for everybody to learn about it exactly the way that Kat did, which was incredibly beautiful, heartwarming, and guttural in a lot of ways.

PC: I’ve had the chance to see the first four episodes of Season 2, and it’s absolutely incredible. Evan, there’s this beautiful moment in Episode 110 where Elliot is telling Kat about the fact that he’s been a spectator in his own life for so long and now has the opportunity to write the next chapter in his life. There’s so much subtlety and hope that you bring to the moment, and we also see worlds colliding with your rendition of “Time After Time” playing the scene off. As an actor, how did you create the space for yourself to dive into that moment? What was your reaction when you read that scene in particular, and how was that music element incorporated?
Evan: Oh, man. Every once in a while when you’re doing a show that’s continuing, you don’t know the scripts before they come, so it’s like a gift that comes along, especially by the end of the season because we, as the actors, are all invested in it too. By the time we got to Episode 10, there were consistently tears in our read-throughs. Episode 10 was really impactful. We’ve said before during press that when we shot that scene in Episode 10, we both had to take an extended period afterward to cry and hold each other a bit. As an actor, you have the opportunity to pattern your own personal truth and commingle it with the character, so any opportunity to try to bring some of your own past into it and those moments where it’s a touchpoint, it was very immediately apparent to me how I was going to tell my truth in there. I feel like we had the opportunity to do that.

It was just the cherry on top that they chose to use “Time After Time.” I had recorded that on my own volition during the year because I thought it’s a time travel show and that would be nice. I’ve always loved that song. So I recorded it and pitched it to production. To their credit, they recognized that might be the perfect point for it. So with my music project, Bright World, which I’ve been doing music for years with this project, getting to incorporate that with the show that we already love so much was so rewarding as an artist. Having lateral avenues of creation and expression, and knowing that we’re part of a production that’s paying attention as well and is similarly invested in trying to find all the avenues to tell an impactful story, is one of the hallmarks of this production. I can’t help myself. That definitely continues into Season 2. This season is so rewarding, and I can’t wait for audiences to see it.

PC: That’s a great pun and a stunning rendition. Chyler, what I love about this series is that it focuses on these three strong, powerful women who are uplifting one another. We see that more so in Season 2. Who are the women in your own life who shaped the storyteller that you are today? Did you channel any of them into your performance in the series?
Chyler: That’s a good question. It would be a very long-winded answer, which I will abbreviate. It’s actually my mother-in-law. I know that not many people get to say that in their lives, that they really genuinely love their mother-in-laws. She is a phenomenal woman who has gone through a tremendous amount of hardship and really grew to be this wonderful, strong, brilliant woman who just loves her family and is ferocious about everybody’s well-being. I could draw a lot from that. I basically grew up with her. She’s a wonderful person.

On the other side of that, my daughters, because everything that I do, I do it very intentionally because if I’m going to spend time away from my family, I need to know that it’s worth it. As I’m getting older and my daughters are getting older, they’re watching what I’m doing, on and off-screen. They love this show so, so, so much. I get this incredible opportunity to show these dynamics and relationships. For Kat, she’s both a daughter and a mother. Through this show, I can teach them so many things. But now, because Kat is learning so much through Alice, it helps me take a step back and learn from my daughters. So it’s really interesting. It’s all come full circle. I’m so grateful to be able to be on both sides of it.

PC: It’s life imitating art. Evan, this is such an emotional watch from start to finish, as you were saying. But there are also moments of levity which you and your character often bring to the series. How much fun is it for you to play in both of those worlds? How much of that is scripted versus improvised?
Evan: That’s one of the reasons why I took this role. That really attracted me in the first place. I love to play a character who falls, especially when we’re walking around in our lives…

Chyler: Do you mean literally?

Evan: No. Maybe. [laughs] We walk around our lives hellbent on trying to make sure that people perceive us as competent and strong. That’s what’s acceptable to society. When we play characters, we can show their weakness. They fall. I love to play the layers of trying to make sure that the audience or the character I’m in a scene with doesn’t see that I’m falling, but I’m actually falling apart inside or vice versa because that’s where the comedy comes from. It’s people saying one thing and doing another.

Chyler: Those moments with you and Sadie, and when Alice makes a comment that comes across so inappropriate. Evan does this swivel/turn. My daughters actually made me rewind it so they could watch him do that initial swivel. [laughs] When you were in the classroom together and she says, “Let’s talk about last night.” [laughs]

Evan: I know.

Chyler: It’s brilliant.

Evan: It’s a show that definitely has very emotional moments, so I think the counterbalance of comedy is definitely necessary. People have to be able to breathe.

I will say there is a lot of improvisation from all the characters because there are a lot of human moments. We never know how much of that stuff is going to make it into the show, usually a small amount, because the show actually has to trim things down to fit the length of the episode. They’re trying to pack so much into these shows, especially in Season 2. The show is widening and expanding. We’re moving into different time periods and there are more characters. Because of that, we have to keep moving, so it has to be a really good adlib or a super good improvisation to make it in. But any time that it does, it’s special.

PC: What’s so unique and refreshing about this series is those distinct timelines that you were just talking about. You both have two young actors playing the teenage versions of your characters. What is it like collaborating with them, and how do their decisions in the past influence/impact your decisions in the present day?
Chyler: You have such a great story with David [Webster]. You should absolutely speak to that first.

Evan: David Webster is such a talented actor who plays young Elliot. It’s really cool since we now have, in aggregate, over two seasons, we have twenty episodes where we can watch each other’s work. It’s kind of happening organically because he’s also clever. He’s watching what I’m doing and starting to put these little breadcrumbs and clues into his performance. I’m watching what he’s doing, so in certain ways, we’re like a DNA strand. We’re circling each other as it’s continuing to progress into a great understanding for the audience. It’s really, really cool. We will see each other on set a lot, so we’ll have these little sidebars and convos. We’re also peppering in stuff that’s not even in the script from little mannerisms and human things that will be rewarding for audiences.

Chyler: I love how they have those glasses moments and those little subtleties. They are so powerful. For myself with Alex Hook, she’s such a stunning actress, literally and figuratively. She’s a lovely girl. In the beginning, it was interesting because I think of Evan and David’s character who has been stuck in this same place this entire time. So when Evan’s talking about it, there’s such a throughline of keeping those things very precious. For Kat, the younger version to where she is now, it’s like night and day. So that being the case, Alex and I didn’t have those big conversations beforehand because it’s almost like we knew where Kat was going to be in the present.

So Alex was able to make some really great choices and have fun with her being that happier side that we see because it’s free of Jacob going missing, and pre-daddy dying. When we pick up with Kat later, the one thing that we had very distinct conversations about was Kat having panic attacks, which is something from a mental health standpoint, I’m so glad that we got to cover that. I have them in my own life, so I know very well what they are. I actually was able to talk to her about what mine look like. So because she has that happen in the 2000s, we see Kat’s very first panic attack. I wanted that authenticity to be there.

She was amazing. She did her own research. She’s like, “I have all these nuts and bolts of it, but what did it look like for you?” So we were able to have that conversation and she nailed it. To see that as the teenage version but still see that adult Kat deals with it as well, it shows that it’s okay that it’s a journey and this might be something that sticks with you for a really long time, and that’s okay. It’s just how we deal with it. So you watch that progression and she did such a fantastic job with it and the mannerisms as well. I’m really proud of her for that.

Evan: A story like that with so much emotional honesty and nuance on Hallmark? That’s revolutionary. That’s why audiences have loved it so much.

Make sure to follow Chyler (Twitter/Instagram) and Evan (Twitter/Instagram). Season 2 of The Way Home premieres on Sunday, January 21st at 9/8c on Hallmark Channel.