{"id":718652,"date":"2026-06-22T05:42:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T05:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/718652\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T05:42:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T05:42:19","slug":"the-way-home-series-finale-elliott-survives-jacob-and-abby-get-married","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/718652\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Way Home’ Series Finale: Elliott Survives, Jacob and Abby Get Married"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from \u201cAhead By a Century,\u201d the series finale of Hallmark\u2019s \u201cThe Way Home<\/a>,\u201d streaming on Hallmark+.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Way Home\u201d is saying goodbye after four seasons, but the series finale had major questions to answer before the show could depart Hallmark\u2019s airwaves. The most pressing matter at the top of the finale was: Did Elliot (Evan Williams) survive the bombing at Lingermore after being shot in the penultimate episode?<\/p>\n

\n\tSpoiler alert: He does, thanks to Kat dragging him to the pond just in time for Alice (Sadie LaFlamme Snow) and Jacob (Spencer MacPherson) to arrive and take him the rest of the way home. It\u2019s Cliff (Dan Jeanotte) who doesn\u2019t make it out of the Goodwin estate, leaving Fern alone on the farm to raise their unborn baby, who will grow up to be Kat\u2019s grandfather.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy suspicion is that if there had been a Season 5, they would have ended Season 4 with the audience thinking that Elliot was dead in the past,\u201d Evan Williams theorizes. Luckily, fans were spared the threat of a funeral for one of the show\u2019s central characters. In fact, \u201cThe Way Home\u201d ended with a wedding, but not the one you might expect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tKat and Elliot finally get engaged in the final episode, but it\u2019s Jacob and Abby Goodwin (Holly Deveaux) who tie the knot, putting an official end to the Goodwin and Landry feud. They say their vows at the pond with both families present. The show pays tribute to all the eras the pond jumpers have visited by showing fan-favorite characters peeking out from the woods to watch the nuptials as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Peter Stranks\/Hallmark<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe fact that we were able to stick the landing after four seasons is the TV equivalent of a triple axle,\u201d Williams says. \u201cThe vibe of the show was so good. The interpersonal connections were amazing. The fact that you got to see it on screen, and felt it in the audience, is the icing on the cake.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe final scene reveals Kat and Alice back at the pond, taking each other\u2019s hands and going for another jump, though we have no idea where their next adventure is going to take them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s very hard to bring an end to something that\u2019s really beloved,\u201d Chyler Leigh says. \u201cAt the same time, the way they were able to button the show in such a beautiful way that is \u2018The Way Home\u2019- style, where there\u2019s always a chance and something new to explore. They did a really beautiful job, but obviously, it\u2019s bittersweet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tEnding the show with one final jump affirms that there\u2019s no future in which the Landry family is done with time traveling, despite the trauma and heartache the pond has delivered with its gift.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEven though the pond had its evil moments, we see over and over again that it is worth it for the healing moments,\u201d Sadie Laflamme-Snow says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile it\u2019s good to know that the Landrys conclude the show happy and together, there are still a few lingering questions. Variety also caught up with showrunners Heather Conkie<\/a> and Alex Clarke<\/a>, a mother-daughter writing team, about wrapping up \u201cThe Way Home,\u201d choosing which wedding to showcase and its guests \u2014 and what questions they still aren\u2019t going to answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat was the most important thing that you wanted to see on screen and deliver to fans before this show was over?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tHeather Conkie: Closure and answers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexandra Clarke: That was our priority, obviously. We raised so many questions over four years, and the gift of knowing it\u2019s the end allowed us to answer those questions as much as we, hopefully, did. The other thing for both of us was the very last scene of Alice and Kat on the rock and jumping. From the very beginning, we knew that would be the end scene of whenever we did end. They jumped, and we just weren\u2019t allowed to go with them this time. That was something that we really felt was very important. We never imagined a world where the Landry family said, \u201c Well, OK everyone! We got all the answers. Bye, pond! Nice to know you. It\u2019s been great.\u201d It\u2019s too much of a gift. It\u2019s too much of a temptation. It\u2019s too much of a link to these beautiful worlds that they\u2019ve all come to know. That includes generations of their family who have become close friends. They were never going to walk away from that pond and be done with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Peter Stranks\/Hallmark<\/p>\n

\t\tIs there any member of the Landry family who is done with the pond after everything that happened?\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tClarke: I think maybe Del. Part of the beauty and the curse of this pond is that it is a part of their lives. It calls to them. Fern says to young Colton, \u201cI know it calls to you.\u201d It does. One of the biggest things we wanted to show in the finale was just how much of a gift, in the end, the pond can be. The fact that Jacob gets to go back to the 1800s and have his five more minutes with Elijah \u2014 he was the most cynical of all about the pond and what it had done to him, and why. For him to say to Susannah and Thomas, \u201cI know we\u2019ll be back here. We\u2019ll be as we were: you, me, and Kat. I believe it now. The pond will take us here.\u201d That showed his reworking of the pond. I don\u2019t think the pond is done with them, and they\u2019re not done with the pond. We just don\u2019t get to see that next chapter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tSpeaking of Jacob, it\u2019s his wedding at the end of the finale. What went into that decision, and not Kat and Elliot, who also get engaged in the episode?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tConkie: Jacob was the one who had to sacrifice the most. He needed his happy ending in the present day without any risk of thinking he wouldn\u2019t take that step. He\u2019s taking it. We know that Kat and Elliot are going to get married. They\u2019re engaged. That would have been too many weddings, but Jacob is the perfect person to commit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tClarke: The wedding is also very emblematic of where we wanted to end our show. One of the interesting things about the \u201870s and \u201880s timeline this season was showing that there was a time when the founding families were all friends. They sat around tables at the kitchen party and talked about the future \u2014 Vic, Tessa, Evelyn, Colton, and Del. Now that Jacob is marrying Abby, that wedding is a representation of all these founding families finally coming back together and being at peace with one another. You wouldn\u2019t have necessarily had that with a Kat and Elliot wedding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Hallmark Media<\/p>\n

\t\tThere are so many characters we\u2019ve grown to love in the past. How did you choose who would show up at the wedding?\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tClarke: We imagined, \u201cWho are the people our main cast would want to see in that moment? Who is the first person they would think of?\u201d For Del, it was Colton, but the Colton of the \u201890s, the one she just got a chance to dance with. For Kat, it was Fern. They truly built such a beautiful friendship over this past season. That\u2019s first and foremost in her mind. Is Fern OK? Seeing her with Cliff was her way of saying, she is. She\u2019s going to be OK. For Alice, it was the \u201870s. It was Evelyn. That was her best friend. For Jacob, it was the people from the 1800s. That was his other family. If he\u2019s getting married, I would think he\u2019d imagine this other massive chapter in his life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tThis question technically comes from Chyler, but it\u2019s a good one. Is Del the only one who can see Colton at the wedding, or is he visible to everyone?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tClarke: Kat smiles when she sees him. She sees him, absolutely. We\u2019re all imagining him there, no question. He\u2019s such a huge part of all their lives. He is the linchpin of the whole thing. I think in their own ways, they\u2019re all imagining him standing with them at that wedding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tKC said a while ago that they wanted to come back before \u201ceverything changed\u201d in their time. Do you have any idea what was going on in the future that would send them to the pond?\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tClarke: That\u2019s one of the things that I don\u2019t know if we can say. We certainly had a plan for what that meant, but it can mean a lot of things. Look at the age KC is when they jump. They\u2019re very similar in age to Alice when Alice first jumped. I think a lot can change in a family at that age, whether it\u2019s because they\u2019re a moody teenager or because things are really going on at home. There\u2019s an innate thing in any teenager of wanting to run away. We had an idea of what it meant, but it\u2019s up to the interpretation of the viewer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI think it\u2019s very important, though, that they saw the origin of their parents\u2019 love story. It\u2019s incredibly important. That\u2019s why the pond took them where it took them. If you actually look at those episodes, you realize they actually might have even had a hand in helping them fall in love. It\u2019s Jacob chasing after KC when he runs into Abby by the water. There\u2019s the moment in the barn, and it\u2019s KC asking, \u201cWhat\u2019s in a name?\u201d that allows Jacob to realize they\u2019re right and go with it. That\u2019s hopefully a really lovely part of the finale, the sixth sense moment of revealing KC was there for their first kiss and then realizing if you go back, they\u2019re there for every single of their really monumental moments as the relationship develops.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Hallmark Media<\/p>\n

\t\tYou also reveal that Tessa left the clock in the wall of the Augustine house after the bombing at Lingermore, proving she\u2019s still alive. Was that to stop Elliot from coming back to look for her?\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tClarke: It\u2019s reassurance. It\u2019s the Bootstrap Theory<\/a>. Elliot tells Tessa about the clock in the wall, and she doesn\u2019t know what it was. Is that why she puts it in the wall later? It\u2019s a cyclical, interesting time-travel conundrum thing. But in our minds, yes. Tessa putting it in the wall is to assure Elliot that she\u2019s OK. What Elliot chooses to do with that information is up to the audience because we are not going to get to see it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tThe finale specifically avoids talking about the origins of the pond, or the science of it. That\u2019s not part of the closure you wanted to give. How did you define that guardrail and what you wanted to leave a mystery for the audience?\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tConkie: We need to know that it\u2019s forever. Yes, it was created for a reason, and there might be multiple reasons. No one really wanted to say exactly why the pond is the pond. It\u2019s lovely for everyone to have their own theory instead of us feeding it to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tClarke: The minute you start dissecting what the pond is and why it is the way it is, you let the air out of the magic and the enigma of it. Our show isn\u2019t sci-fi. Our show is about a time-traveling pond that helps heal a family. Our show is about how the pond can help, not why the pond is.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tWere there any time periods left on the vision board that you didn\u2019t get to visit?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tConkie: One hundred percent. There are a million eras. I actually would have liked to have seen more of the \u201820s, because I thought the \u201820s were fabulous. It would have been fun to draw that out a little more as we usually do. We usually do two seasons for an era, and this one was cut a little short for me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tClarke: If you really look at the show, there are two generations of that family that are a bit blank right now. One is Colton\u2019s father, so the \u201840s and \u201850s. Then there\u2019s the era that Tessa and Griffin fell into, which is the late 1800s and early 1900s. It\u2019s after Thomas and Susannah, and those areas are the big question marks still. I think it\u2019s fine that they are, but they are certainly two areas that would have been interesting to go to and explore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Hallmark Media<\/p>\n

\t\tHave you discussed the possibility of a spinoff? The Way Home: Port Haven Origins or something?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tClarke: We would joke on set about how we could take it on the road. Do they pop up in the Trevi Fountain, and we call it \u201cThe Way Rome?\u201d But really, a Landry never gives up hope. We never say never. This is a family. We would all love to come back together again in whatever capacity. In the meantime, I feel very blessed that it isn\u2019t goodbye. We have created a really lovely family, and as much as we miss working together, they\u2019re never gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat do you hope fans take away from this final episode?\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tConkie: I hope they feel a closure. I hope it stays in their mind for a while. I think it was food for the soul. This whole series seemed to hit people in a very personal way. Each person who watches it takes away a different thing. I think it makes them look at their own lives, and wish they had those five more minutes. Who among us hasn\u2019t thought that?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat are you most proud of now that you\u2019re wrapping the show up?\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tClarke: The amount of messages I\u2019ve been getting throughout, but especially in this last little while, about how the show has helped them, whether it\u2019s dealing with depression or the loss of a family member. I\u2019ve been getting some incredible messages. People who have dealt with tragedy in the midst of the show being on the air, and are looking for comfort. I\u2019m so proud of that. We certainly did that ourselves. Mom and I have had some personal stuff, and the show has been a haven for us as well. I\u2019m very proud of that, and I\u2019m very proud of working with Mom, and what we built together.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tConkie: I\u2019m equally proud of you. It was such a gift. I\u2019m also proud of the soundtrack. I love shows that have music in it. I try to insert it in any show I\u2019ve ever done. This one was so amazing. We ended with a cast that was incredibly musically talented. That doesn\u2019t happen very often. To have a soundtrack that came out last week with all the beautiful pieces of score, plus all the original songs and songs that we created in our own way. It\u2019s a beautiful soundtrack.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThis interview has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from \u201cAhead By a Century,\u201d the series finale of Hallmark\u2019s \u201cThe Way…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[309515,88,22427,309516,217502,92],"class_list":["post-718652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-alex-clarke","tag-entertainment","tag-hallmark-channel","tag-heather-conkie","tag-the-way-home","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}