The Way Home’s Andie MacDowell on Del’s Skimpy Swimming Scene: ‘It Was a Good Thing to Do at My Age’
The Way Home star Andie MacDowell has a favorite scene from Season 2 of Hallmark Channel’s time-traveling family drama, and it’s one that might have made other performers nervous.
“I had fun skinny dipping, and I thought it was a good thing to do at my age,” the 66-year-old actress told TVLine at an Emmy Awards For Your Consideration event for the show (which is a TVLine Dream Emmy Nominee for Outstanding Drama Series).
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In the aforementioned moment, MacDowell’s Del and her love interest Sam (played by Killjoys’ Rob Stewart) share a meaningful moment near the water. He tells her that he wants to keep swimming, aka living, and encourages her to join him for an evening dip as he takes off his clothes. Del, initially, balks at his crazy move, and while she doesn’t go full-on skinny dipping, she does, ultimately, strip down to her undergarments and run into the dark, cold waters.
“I think it’s powerful for women to see the image of a woman being brave,” MacDowell says.
The actress also enjoyed how Del’s decision to jump into the deep end, so to speak, was more about her than Sam.
“I don’t run to him. I don’t run into his arms. I run for myself,” MacDowell notes. “I go in the water for me, and so, I thought that was a really powerful high for my character.”
As for why widowed Del was finally ready for a deeper romance with Sam in the second season, MacDowell believes it’s “partially [about] chemistry for her” and patience.
“I think it’s a process that she has to go through in order to be able to open up to someone,” MacDowell explains. “He’s done a few things that made her willing to do that. She’s just trying to see how this feels. He’s given her time and that’s really important for her.”
As Del was moving on, romantically, her relationship with her daughter Kat (Chyler Leigh) was also evolving, with the two, at long last, getting closure on the rift that tore them apart. After discovering that the letter Kat wrote to Del, inviting her to visit her baby granddaughter, never reached her all those years ago, the mother and daughter shared a tearful moment of understanding and reconciliation in the Season 2 finale.
“I thought they were really powerful scenes,” MacDowell says. “There’s always been something between them that is painful. You can feel it in every scene… When she realizes that Kat wanted her in her life, that was a very revealing point and a powerful point for Del. She wants her daughter to love her, just like my daughter wants me to love her. That episode was really beautiful for my character.”
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Looking ahead at Season 3 and, hopefully, Del’s reunion with her adult son Jacob (Spencer Macpherson), who has been missing for decades, MacDowell imagines it will be “a lot to process” for her character.
“I think the only thing in the immediate reaction is really not to think [anything] other than that is her son. That’s it. There’s nothing else but I have my son,” MacDowell shares.
(With reporting by Megan Vick)
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