Chyler Leigh, Evan Williams, Creators on Kat and Elliot

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from “The Way We Were,” Season 3, Episode 2 of  Hallmark’s “The Way Home,” which streams on Hallmark+.

Everything was coming up Elliot (Evan Williams) in the Jan. 3 Season 3 premiere of “The Way Home” on Hallmark Channel. His surrogate family was reunited with their long-lost son and brother, Jacob (Spencer MacPherson). He and Kat (Chyler Leigh) finally made time to commit to their relationship with each other without a time-traveling pond getting in the way. In terms of life goals, Elliot was knocking it out of the park. While he and Kat took the next step in their relationship – moving in together – in the season’s second episode, there are already some cracks starting to show in one of the show’s central relationships.

“We have these three women, and we always apply past, present and future thematically to them. This season is about Del questioning her past. Alice is questioning her future and what that looks like, and Kat is questioning her present,” says Alex Clarke, the daughter half of the show’s mother-daughter showrunner team. “She’s such a doer. She’s very much like Del, and last season was about completing the mission and getting Jacob home. To a certain extent, it was also about giving Susanna what’s owed to her. At the top of this season, those missions are done. Jacob is home. The book is published under Susanna’s name. She’s done all of the things, so she’s questioning who she is now and where she fits.” 

Kat promised Elliot that she was finished with the pond in the premiere episode after a final trip to the 1800s to get closure. However, the pond is still a barrier between them, despite knowing that he can time travel with her as long as they jump into the water together. The mysterious body of water started sending Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) back to the 1970s, and Kat needed to follow to ensure that her daughter was safe. The desperate need to find her daughter inspired Kat to harshly snap that she didn’t want to have to “look after” Elliot when he offered to come with her. 

“Listen, it was a stressful moment —she doesn’t have a filter,” Chyler Leigh says, defending Kat in a recent interview. “She unfilteredly ended up saying, ‘No, thanks, you stay.’ That’s what she meant.” 

Co-star and scene partner Williams backed her up. “We don’t want to forget the fact that the pond has been responsible for tearing the family apart for 25 years. It’s a portal through time. It’s not an elevator. It’s not like you get in and you know where you’re going,” Williams says. “You might end up getting lost in time forever. It’s not child’s play. It’s not to be taken lightly.” 

The executive producers aren’t necessarily trying to excuse Kat’s behavior, and teased that the moment of tension is hinting at a bit more going on underneath the surface of the relationship.

“No one said Kat was perfect,” says show co-showrunner Heather Conkie. “When you think about it, she’s one of the most flawed characters we’ve ever written. I think she’s torn most of the time, but she does know in her heart of hearts that her forever person is possibly Elliot. He’s so steady, and he’s there for her. She’s gotten kind of spoiled.” 

“It does say a little bit about maybe there’s resentment for something that’s bubbling up in a moment without expecting it to,” Clarke says. “I think that’s just real life. You say things without meaning them. You say things that are kind of impetuous and impulsive, and you regret it later.” 

Kat apologized when she returned from her adventure to the past, and the two could easily move beyond the uncomfortable moment, but it doesn’t change the fact that the pond still has the ability to come between them. As Kat begins another adventure, it could also bring up doubts about whether she’s really finished with the past, whether that’s the 1970s or the people she left behind in the 1800s. 

“At the end of the day, she’s an investigative journalist for a reason. It is at her core. She has to find out why, what, and how. I think because that’s innately ingrained in her, she can’t just let that go,” Leigh says. “It’s always those questions that are always going to be there. It will always be a matter of, ‘But is there more to find out?’ She does get presented with that quite a bit this season. She’s stubborn as hell, so she’s just going to keep going to keep finding out until she can’t anymore.” 

One of those big question marks for fans is Kat’s relationship with Susanna. The two were able to say goodbye, even if it was rushed and dissatisfying, in the premiere. And it’s clear, especially as Kat promotes the book she compiled from Susanna’s journals, that the connection is still very strong between the two of them. 

“Susanna is a character who was born in the wrong time. Susanna is also incredibly proud, and she does love where she is, but she also realizes that there’s this whole other world out there where Kat is living where people are more free and way more able to love who they want to love,” Clarke says of the longing in their last scene together. “We’ve always said those two characters are just completely in awe of one another — of how brave, strong and independent they are for various reasons. We wanted to continue that awe.” 

“They form this — you can definitely say a friendship, but it’s really like a relationship that I find very beautiful,” Leigh says. “It’s very touching, the strength they exchange with one another. It’s definitely heartbreaking, and who knows? No one is really gone with time travel.” 

And while Elliot isn’t aware his girlfriend has developed a sensual relationship with his ancestor, Williams is all about the Kat and Susanna lore and what it means for “The Way Home.” 

“I’m proud of the show for showing us all these different kinds of love. It’s almost like every relationship in the show is an opportunity to show a different archetype of love. I love that we can lean into the ambiguity and the different kinds of love that don’t necessarily even need a label,” Williams says. “We show love as a spectrum, which I think is both progressive and realistic, especially in a show that is fantastical, that is a time travel show about a pond — and having love be the grounding factor.” 

It’s not as if Elliot doesn’t also have his own issues at the moment as well. His father, Victor (James Gallanders), is also back in town for the second episode. Elliot committed to “letting in the light” at the end of Season 2, but his father’s presence in Port Haven is a temptation to recede back into a darker mindset, which could also spell trouble in other aspects of Elliot’s life.

“It’s a fun arc to start off the season feeling like Elliot’s got everything under control. Everything is on the list. He’s a linear type of guy, so the feeling of having everything checked off was amazing — and left that room to fall when Victor shows up,” Williams says. “I’ve said before that one of my favorite things about playing this character is playing a character who falls. It was fun to basically get pushed down the stairs metaphorically when Victor shows up, because all of that childhood stuff comes rushing back.” 

So while Elliot and Kat may have started the season on the same page, and they have the big adventure of living together ahead, there will still be obstacles in the way of their happily ever after. Clarke promises that Kat meant what she said in the premiere though, and Elliot is the one she’s choosing…for now. 

“Elliot has always been her anchor. I think she’s going into this relationship very optimistic that this is what her present is, this is what her ‘next journey’ is. Whether that pans out, we’ll see,” Clarke says. “Obviously, there’s going to be some bumps in the road, but I think she’s very convinced at the top of the season that this is the next road to go down, and this is the present that she’s chosen.”