Andie MacDowell will headline a new series on Hallmark Channel. The actress, who previously starred in the Hallmark series Cedar Cove, will star as Del Landry in The Way Home. The show will begin production in Ontario over the summer and premiere in 2023.
“We’ve found our perfect Del Landry in Andie MacDowell,” began Lisa Hamilton Daly, executive vice president of programming at Crown Media Family Networks. “It was crucial to cast someone with the ability to handle the nuances and depth of the role and we can’t wait to see her bring Del to life.”
“Our viewers loved Andie MacDowell when she starred in ‘Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove,’ our first original primetime series,” remarked Laurie Ferneau, senior vice president of development at Crown Media Family Networks. “We couldn’t be happier to welcome her home to Hallmark Channel and we know our fans will fall in love with her all over again.”
Hallmark Channel series
From 2013 to 2015, MacDowell starred as Judge Olivia Lockhart on the Hallmark series Cedar Cove. Based on the books by Debbie Macomber, the show followed the residents of a small town on Puget Sound in Washington State. The ensemble cast also included Sarah Smyth, Dylan Neal, Teryl Rothery, Brennan Elliott, Barbara Niven, Cindy Busby, and Jesse Hutch.
Fans who were devastated when Cedar Cove was canceled were thrilled to hear about MacDowell’s return to Hallmark.
“Love her so much,” wrote one fan on Hallmark’s Facebook page. “Great news!”
“One of my favorite women!!” wrote another. “Classy, Sassy, and Southern! Have loved and seen her in everything through the decades!”
But one fan replied to the news with, “I stopped watching anything on Hallmark that was a series. They get you hooked then cancel it.”
Hallmark has canceled three series in the past 12 months. The series finale of Good Witch aired in July 2021. Home and Family aired its final episode in August 2021. The sixth and final season of Chesapeake Shores is currently in production.
The Way Home
In The Way Home, MacDowell plays the matriarch of the Landry family and a pillar of the community in her small Canadian farming town. According to a synopsis from the network:
“She and her daughter Kat have been estranged from each other following tragic events that left their family forever changed and prompted Kat to move away. When Kat unexpectedly returns many years later with her teenage daughter whom Del has never met, the three generations of women embark on an enlightening journey to find their way back to each other and learn important lessons about their family’s past.”
The series is being written by the mother-daughter team Heather Conkie and Alexandra Clarke. The pair, who wrote the script for the Disney Channel movie Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars, have also collaborated on the award-winning series Heartland.