Andie MacDowell isn’t letting go of her reins — especially when it comes to protecting her beloved character.
During The People Interview: Hallmark’s The Way Home event on Jan. 22, the actress, 66, who plays Del Landry on the hit series, opened up about the unexpected challenges of seeing a younger version of her character being developed for the third season.
In a panel discussion led by PEOPLE’s Executive Editor of TV and Events Breanne L. Heldman on Wednesday, Jan. 22, MacDowell noted that actress Julia Tomasone, 26, “does a really good job” of portraying her character’s teenage self, but confessed that the process Del’s youth being fleshed out in such detail has been “terrifying.”
“It scared me, because it’s my development,” she explained. “My character is going back in time and saying, ‘Oh, by the way, this is what happened to you.’ And I had no knowledge of it.”
Hallmark Media/Michael Tompkins
With the trajectory of Del’s past, present and future on the line, MacDowell revealed that she made a few suggestions — and was grateful to have felt heard by the writers and producers.
“I’m like, wait a minute,” she recalled, noting that the writing made young Del seem “spoiled.”
“And she has to say something about the farm,” she continued. “Because to me, that was my character.”
Hallmark Media/Photographer: Peter Stranks
Once the changes were made, MacDowell breathed a sigh of relief. “I was terrified of some of that stuff that happened. [The] writers had full control of like my history, but I’m connected to who I feel I am, right?” she explained. “So I did have to say something about that and I did say it’s your choice, but [these are] really strong feelings that I’m having here.”
When it comes to any advice she passed along to Tomasone, she revealed that she encouraged the Backstage alum to “listen to the show” and the choices she made for Del’s accent.
Mike Coppola/Getty
“I made a very specific choice for Del, because I had to play two generations and I wanted people to believe it,” she said. “I made the present-day Del a little hoarser, a little tougher, a little coarser. She lost her husband. She lost her son. And then I tried to lighten my voice when I would go back to the ’90s.”
“So I just wanted [Tomasone] to look to see what I had done, because I didn’t try to make it overly southern,” MacDowell continued, joking that she asked writers to “make me from The South because I didn’t want to have to work so hard all the time.”
“I’m not like an overly southern character, you know. So that’s why I said, ‘You have to listen to the show to make your choices,” she concluded.
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The Way Home airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on Hallmark Channel. New episodes are available the next day on Hallmark+ and Peacock.
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