‘The Way Home’ Bosses on Purposefully Leaving Some Questions Unanswered in Bittersweet Series Finale While Also Providing ‘Closure’ for Fans

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from “Ahead By a Century,” the series finale of Hallmark’s “The Way Home,” streaming on Hallmark+.

“The Way Home” is saying goodbye after four seasons, but the series finale had major questions to answer before the show could depart Hallmark’s 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?

Spoiler 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’s Cliff (Dan Jeanotte) who doesn’t 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’s grandfather. 

“My 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,” Evan Williams theorizes. Luckily, fans were spared the threat of a funeral for one of the show’s central characters. In fact, “The Way Home” ended with a wedding, but not the one you might expect. 

Kat and Elliot finally get engaged in the final episode, but it’s 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. 

“The fact that we were able to stick the landing after four seasons is the TV equivalent of a triple axle,” Williams says. “The 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.” 

The final scene reveals Kat and Alice back at the pond, taking each other’s hands and going for another jump, though we have no idea where their next adventure is going to take them. 

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