[Warning: General spoilers ahead.]
Canadian multihyphenate actress and director Megan Follows is generationally iconic. You might know her from her titular turn as Anne of Green Gables, as the daunting Catherine de’ Medici in Reign, or more recently as Mama Earp in Wynonna Earp. So, she was of course the perfect choice to step into the role of Elliot’s mother, Tessa, in Hallmark Channel’s The Way Home, which is about to wrap its four-season run.
As fans of the show know, Tessa has been spoken of but never seen before now, a looming presence in the story because she abandoned Elliot as an infant and disappeared, leaving him in a problematic situation with his suddenly single father. We’ve learned this season that Tessa used the pond to go back to 1925 and stayed there.
With just a few episodes left, I sat down to chat with Follows today for a wide-ranging conversation about joining the series, expanding her repertoire to directing a decade ago, and a fantastic treat she has in store for the Anne of Green Gables fandom. In the first part of our chat, we talk about The Way Home.
Follows was cast very quickly, which didn’t give her time to ramp up on the first three seasons of the show, but that worked in her favor because Tessa doesn’t know anything about those events, either. “I went into it cold because it was pretty fast. I think they always thought they would bring Tessa in, but I don’t know how fully formed all thoughts were [around] the wrapping up of the series,” she explains. “So, I’m so grateful that Tessa went into it cold as well, which is fantastic, so that was fun for me.”
When we first meet Tessa onscreen, it’s an unbeatable entrance, appearing onstage in a burst of smoke as carnival fortune teller Contessa, complete with turban. And then when we see her again, she’s someone else entirely, dressed neatly in a three-piece pantsuit, a commanding presence as prohibition-era rumrunner in a man’s world, staking a claim that will cascade for her family. Follows embraced the rich, multifaceted role of a woman who made a terrible, impossible choice and then created a commanding new identity.
“There was a rich story there, because anyone who makes a choice to leave something, there are reasons. And what I really appreciated in talking to [series co-creator] Heather Conkie before I came on board to really understand, ‘What is this person doing?’ That whole thing of a kind of a postpartum depression…that’s a really important, complex issue that I think we don’t give enough understanding to, or care or support,” she shares.
“For Tessa, abandoning family is such a loaded thing. And I think there’s so much judgment on it, particularly with mothers. Mothers do not get a pass. So, I loved diving into something complicated like that. The pond gave her [a fresh start].”
“It’s really not about blaming other people. I basically say to Elliot, ‘I was afraid of what I would do.’ I think she’s an incredibly brave character. And sadly, obviously, there are a lot of ramifications for one’s actions. And the device of the show allows for generational healing because you can literally jump through a pond and have a conversation with somebody about their actions. The idea of it is really beautiful.”
“Even though it’s a dangerous time [in 1925], there’s something that’s given her a bit more identity. Even if that identity is fabricated and a lie. I think you can see the shrewd parts of her too, that are a bit manipulative. I’m thinking about the journey with Fern, who I need to try to control. The big thing is trying with the other people that work for me to get something into a family line.”
“That is something we’re all looking for, hence the name of the show. It’s The Way Home. It’s not ‘I’m home’ or ‘Here is home.’ It’s how are we getting home, even though they’re there, but how they find their way back. The path to it.”
Follow recently credited costume designer Trysha Bakker, who I was lucky enough to meet and who gave us a tour of her glorious wardrobe department during the 2016 Killjoys set visit, with crafting Tessa’s signature looks.
“I loved it. That was actually one of my favorite parts about it. And I also appreciated the duality. She’s pretending to be a fortune teller, which is really sneaky because she would have a knowledge of the future. She has a whole kind of gig going,” she laughs.
“Our costume fittings were a riot for the look. Finding the right pants and the hats. At one point when we were doing the early wardrobes for Contessa, and I was doing my fittings. This is me [with light hair] right? And nobody had really thought about this yet. Young Tessa has got long hair, but it’s dark.”
“Often in our business, there’s so many things to think about that it was [missed] and I said, ‘We need to get a wig on Tessa. I’ve got to have dark hair. And then it was sort of finding this look. That was fun for me because then it’s also all those elements that allow you to become something else. And as a performer, that’s where we still get to play.”
Follows appreciated the small touches and the artistry behind the scenes that helped shape her character. “The makeup artist did the most beautiful thing, and we don’t really see it. We had little tiny diamonds as the Contessa that were pasted across under my eyes that sparkled,” she recalls.
“And I have a really beautiful photograph, I’ll share again online because the detail really is the beautiful thing. All of the creativity and artistry that we end up with as performers is at the end of a lot of other people’s work. We’re supported that way at its best.”
Check back next week for more with Follows as we talk about her journey as a director, paving the way for women who are now following that same path as part of Hallmark Media’s Make Her Mark women’s directing initiative. And she’ll talk about Anne of Green Gables and the project she’s teeing up that explores the many adaptations and the global appeal of the characters. If you’re looking for something new to watch, you can find Follows on Tubi in the Canadian feature, Stealing the Sky, which she directed and in which she costars. We talk about that in part two of our interview.here.
The Way Home airs linearly at 9 pm/8c Sundays on Hallmark Channel and streams the next day on Hallmark+, where you can catch every episode so far. In Canada, you can watch it live Sundays at 8 pm e/p on W Network and streaming on StackTV.
Here’s a sneak peek of “Tainted Love.”
Photos and video courtesy of Hallmark Media.
