Hallmark’s new TV show The Way Home is set to debut in January and already fans have some questions. The network released a trailer for the series, which will star Andie MacDowell and Chyler Leigh. When it posted the clip to social media, fans immediately responded.
“Every time we get interested in and devoted to a series it gets canceled,” wrote one fan in the comments section.
“No more series for me,” wrote another. “I just start watching then they cancel them.”
Other fans commented on how similar the show seemed to other Hallmark series.
“A mysterious and beautiful woman with magical powers? Sounds like Good Witch to me,” wrote another.
Hallmark’s new TV show
The Way Home follows the lives of three generations of women – Kat Landry (Leigh), her 15-year-old daughter Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) and Kat’s mother, Del (MacDowell). More than 20 years prior, tragic events prompted Kat to move away from her small, Canadian farm town of Port Haven. She and her mother became estranged for reasons Kat has never shared with her daughter.
With Kat’s marriage coming to an end and having just been laid off from her job, she decides to return home after receiving an unexpected letter from Del urging her to come back. Although Alice is not happy with the decision, Kat and her daughter arrive at her family’s farm, though the reunion isn’t what Kat had envisioned. As the three generations of women slowly work on finding their footing as a family, they embark on an enlightening – and surprising – journey none of them could have imagined.
Though Hallmark has been vague with many details, the network shared that time travel is a big part of the story.
“What if you could see your family before it was broken?” says the narrator in the trailer Hallmark released. “What if the only way forward is to go back?”
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.
MacDowell’s return to Hallmark
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.
Hallmark canceled the series after three seasons. In the past two years, Hallmark has canceled two other series. Good Witch ended after seven seasons. Chesapeake Shores finished after six. Fans have been trying to get both series back on the air.
“I’m so disappointed the great series we had were canceled,” wrote a fan on Facebook. “I wish another channel would pick them up the actors didn’t want their series to end.”
“Sounds interesting, looking forward to it. Please give it a chance before canceling,” wrote a fan.
The Way Home will premiere on Hallmark Channel on Sunday, January 15 at 9/8c.
