Chyler Leigh Gets Teary-Eyed As Evan Williams Breaks Down Kat & Elliot's Romance in 'The Way Home'

In one of the first few scenes of The Way Home season 3, which premiered yesterday, on Jan. 3 on Hallmark, Chyler Leigh‘s character Kat said the few words fans of the show have been hoping for for years. “I choose you,” she told Evan Williams’ character Elliot. “I choose here and now.”

Fans of the show know that Kat and Elliot’s romance is a long time coming. After all, while the two had turned their friendship into romance before, Kat’s inability to let go of time travel, and her growing connection with Thomas Coyle, coupled with Elliot’s existential crisis over his own decisions, never allowed them to give it the old college try.

Now, however, the two have seemingly recommitted to each other – something both fans and the actors themselves are thrilled about.

“I mean, here’s the thing, when you spend your whole life dreaming about something and you finally get it, only at that point do you have to contend with how do I now live with this thing that is no longer an idea, it’s an actuality, lived reality,” Williams told SheKnows of their connection. “So I think that both Kat and Elliot are working from the leading edge of their capabilities and being like, ‘We’re going to do this thing because we know it’s what we want,’ but just wanting it doesn’t mean you have the facility or the ability to do it.”

“I think that we’re in for a journey, but hopefully a rewarding one, because there’s love there,” Williams added. “These characters deserve real love.”

While Leigh didn’t necessarily chime in here with her thoughts, it was clear that her feelings were mutual. In fact, she even got a little emotional hearing Williams talk. Looks like these two might be the biggest Kat and Elliot fans out there!

Also this season, fans will get a deeper dive into Elliot’s backstory, including his rocky relationship with his dad, Vic (James Gallanders).

“I’m thrilled that we’re having the opportunity to look even further into popping the hood and seeing into Elliot,” Williams said of his character.

As it turns out, Williams already knew a lot of what viewers will find out about Elliot and Vic in season 3 a while ago.

“I had a conversation with the showrunners early on, sort of so I knew the lay of the land because, in the beginning of season one, I had to show a character that was the result of a 20-year gap from when we had last seen the young character so I needed to know some of those things,” she said, adding he’s been carrying it “in my back pocket the whole time.”

“It has sort of illuminated the way that I have played the character, but in typical, this show style, you’re always going to be discovering new things and guessing.”

Most of all, it seems Williams is just enjoying being a part of peeling all the layers of his character. “It’s really, I think, beautiful that we get to get to have an empathetic journey and really understand Elliot in that way, and watch Elliot coming to understand himself in that way,” he said. “Because just because you grow up doesn’t mean you’re okay with how you grew up.”

“You know, like a lot of times, especially as a kid, you’re just trying to survive,” he continued. “You’re just trying to make it through. And you make a lot of decisions when you don’t necessarily have the facility to do so and then you only can work it out in retrospect.”

“One of the cool things about time travel is that that retrospect actually we get to view it,” he added, with a firm nod from Leigh. “We actually get to go there with the audience and physically be there and and maybe even tinker with it.”

But while all this discovery centers on Williams’ character, Leigh is loving having a front-row seat.

“What I’m excited about is, as a fan of my own television show, I love learning about all these things that happened in it when in Elliot’s youth and also in his dad’s youth and really, kind of coming to understand how people get where they are or why they do,” she said. “I think they’ve done a beautiful job of being able to tell so many different stories, even in somebody who looks like the villain or somebody who looks like the bad person.”

“We don’t know what somebody has gone through,” the Grey’s Anatomy alum added. “You know someone’s driving too fast, and you hope that there’s some sort of emergency that they’re doing that for, we don’t understand the reasons behind everything.”

Another major moment in episode one was seeing adult Jacob (Spencer Macpherson) finally come home and reunite with his mom, Del (Andie MacDowell).

“I absolutely adore Spencer as a human being,” Leigh said of her younger brother on the show. “First of all, he’s a wonderful, wonderful person and a phenomenal actor, and I’ve gotten to see his method and how he prepares, and I have such great respect for him.”

“We constantly laugh, it’s actually really hard sometimes to do scenes with him, because we get one look, and then we’re like, ‘Oh God, don’t make eye contact anymore,'” she joked. “We actually get in trouble for joking around too much sometimes.”

“There’s a lot more things to discover this season, and it just gets heavier and heavier, but their bond, their love, is so strong,” she teased. “And there are a few scenes that show that brother and sister dynamic that I absolutely love.”

Catch more of The Way Home season 3 on the Hallmark channel on Fridays and on Hallmark+ on Saturdays.

Before you go, click here to see more time travel movies and TV shows that will take you on a magical ride.