Inside The Way Home Finale: Bianca Melchior and Dan Jeannotte on Love, Loss, and the Lingermore Tunnel Explosion
The final season of The Way Home introduced us to the most heartbreaking romance of the series between Fern Landry and Cliff Kane. The minute they met on screen, you knew they were meant to be together. But prohibition smuggling and time travel secrets ultimately cut their love story short just as they finally found true happiness. Speaking with Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado, Bianca Melchior and Dan Jeannotte reflect on the Lingermore tunnel explosion, the emotional finale, and the lasting impact of Fern and Cliff’s story.
Set against the backdrop of the long-anticipated Lingermore tunnel explosion, the series brings multiple storylines to a breaking point. Jeannotte described the shoot as both physically demanding and emotionally charged. “It was a really tough day of filming for a few reasons,” he explained. “It was a really interesting space to film in. Like you're actually in a sort of tunnel thing. Cramped quarters, dusty air.”
The setting added to the pressure, as the cast worked in a confined environment to film one of the season’s most impactful moments. “Everybody was very aware that this is one of the climaxes, one of the culminations of the show. There was a feeling that we wanted to get this right, that everybody wanted to make sure that we were telling the story the right way,” Jeannotte said. “Of course, it was there in the script, but then also, as we're in the room in the hall of the tunnel and filming it, we're trying to figure out how to build up the tension and ratchet up the drama in a way that makes sense and that's true to the story.
Between guns and characters shouting at each other, Jeannotte called it an “intense” scene to shoot. “It was clearly an important one,” he shared. “There was a lot of emotion there with Elliot.”
For Melchior, the finale required her to step into an immense layer of grief, something she admitted was overwhelming even during rehearsals. “It was quite an ambitious schedule and I was a little nervous going into it because,” she said, “I understood the weight of this moment for Fern, for the timeline of the Landrys.”
“I love Fern so much. She's so close to my heart. I remember walking on set to block it and I just couldn't keep it together,” she continued, putting her arm up to block Jeannotte. “I was like, ‘Guys, I can't say these lines or do this thing. I can't even look at this human right now.’”
She gave credit to the crew and director who made sure they were “emotionally supported” both on and off camera. “It’s really easy to do these things when you have an amazing scene partner, so I really give it up to Dan as well.”
Jeannotte reflected on how powerful it was to witness Melchior’s performance in real time during filming. “The reason those scenes work so well is, like Bianca was saying, she couldn't keep it together on set, but it's because she came in fully invested and fully there with the character,” he explained. “That scene we shot where she tells me that we're going to have a baby… that's a funny, interesting thing as an actor where I don't know any of the context that the audience knows and that Fern knows, so I was just elated. Cliff is so happy, but then Dan understands the context.”
“I remember being on set, walking away. It was a shot that was Bianca's coverage. So I walked away from the scene like, ‘I'm going to be a dad!’ Then I walked over to the monitor and I saw her face on the monitor and they were still filming,” Jeannotte said. “I had to turn away from the monitor because I felt like I was going to sob. I'm like, ‘This is this is going to be a powerful scene. If I'm feeling that — like I can't pull myself out of the feeling of it — this is going to be a powerful scene.’ And that's on you.”
Melchior called it a “complex” storyline emotionally for her character. “I like, for Fern, she's balancing so many things in that moment,” she said. “This is the first time she's time traveled and she's seeing him standing there right in front of her. She knows that he's gone in her real time. There's the awe and shock of time traveling and seeing him. She has an agenda. She's coming here because she wants to tell him this news. She can't really let him know that she's hurting. It was just a lot of things to juggle.”
Beyond Fern and Cliff’s relationship, the final season also deepens the mythology around “The One” and the secrets surrounding the pond. “Isn't that the interesting thing? The secrets of the pond and Fern's relationship to the pond when Kat meets her, it's so different. She's shocked to find out that none of this has really been a secret, at least within her family,” shared Melchior. “I guess it's just a case of personalities and how people deal with and cope with big existential secrets about life. I really love that scene with Kat where it’s cemented. You're getting the idea over the course of the season, but it's a beautiful scene that I got to play with Chyler [Leigh] and I hope the fans will be satisfied with the legend of ‘The One.’”
Melchior also points to a key emotional shift for Fern as the pond offers more than just wonder, but danger too. “There's that beautiful moment in the beginning of [episode] nine where Jill [Frappier]'s Fern meets Kat for the first time as a baby and she tells her, ‘I'm so glad you're a girl. You'll be safe.’ I definitely think that's a big piece of it too,” she explained. “At that point in her life, I think the pond utterly terrifies her and that's really all she has left of Cliff.”
Given the themes of the show, the duo shared where they would go if they could time travel in their own lives. “To relive or to change, right? I'd be trying to change things even though the pond says you can't change anything,” joked Jeannotte, before sharing a deeply personal answer about fatherhood. “I have a son who's 10 now, almost 11. I'm aware as he gets older, that there's only so much time I have left with him before he's an adult who goes off on his own, you know? [I’d go] spend more time with him and maybe be a more chill dad when he was younger, not be so stressed about parenting. Spend more time with my boy, that's what I want.”
Like many of the Landrys before her, Melchior would go back to connect with family she never had the chance to meet. “I never got to meet my grandfather on my mom's side. He died young. I would want to travel back in time to meet him,” she said. “They also had a dog called Jesse. I would love to go meet Jesse.”
All four season of The Way Home are streaming on Hallmark+.
