“The Way Home”’s Chyler Leigh Defends Elliot, Says Kat Is ‘Itching for That Ring’ as Season 4 Kicks Off (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Chyler Leigh says Kat is eager for an engagement as Kat and Elliot’s relationship matures and deepens in season 4 of Hallmark Channel’s The Way Home

• Leigh defends Kat choosing Elliot and has empathy for all that he’s experienced that led the couple to their current happy place

• Leigh is excited for fans to see Kat time-travel to the 1920s, meet a young Fern Landry and explore a vibrant new era

When The Way Home returns on Sunday, April 19, for its fourth and final season, at least one couple is finally on solid ground.

Kat (Chyler Leigh) and Elliot (Evan Williams) will begin the season stronger than ever as they celebrate Alice’s (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) high school graduation. In fact, as Kat toasts her daughter’s milestone, she’s hoping for another celebration of her own soon.

“Is she itching for that ring? You better believe it,” Leigh tells PEOPLE. “It’s the whole, ‘It’ll happen when it’s the perfect time.’ How many times has she heard that?!”

Adding to that anticipation, of course, is that Kat has already seen the ring, which previously belonged to Elliot’s mysterious mother. After quite a bit of back and forth in season 3, Elliot currently has possession of the Augustine family heirloom.

Even as Kat waits, Leigh, 44, says she’s thrilled with where the former childhood friends stand in this final season.

“What I love so much about their relationship in season 4 is that you see that it’s matured,” she says. “There’s really this eye-to-eye understanding of, I see the rest of my life with you. I want the rest of my life to be with you. Look at what we’ve already had to overcome, and where can we go from now?”

“But for Kat and Elliot, they stay together, they live together, and you see their dynamics change,” Leigh continues. “Evan and I really wanted to put an emphasis on the little moments, like we wanted to put a little kiss in there, because that’s what people would do. Especially somebody that you love so much, or just the physicality of it, like an arm around each other where maybe it wasn’t written… Just to make it seem like this is what happens over time. That’s just what it is. And it’s not the honeymoon phase. It’s that we’ve progressed it to this point.”

Not all fans of the series have been cheering for Kat and Elliot to wind up together in the end, as Elliot didn’t always support Kat’s choices in earlier seasons. But Leigh is steadfast about their pairing and filled with empathy for Elliot’s journey.

“He has always had this enormous pressure, enormous weight, and that’s going to carry with you. That doesn’t just go away. It’s something you have to grow through, not even from,” she says. “You have to grow through it.”

Leigh continues, “Essentially, Elliot has had to do the impossible ever since he was a little with growing up with Kat, and then what he learned along the way, with the time travel. And then, as a teenager, when he was falling in love with her, and she goes with Brady. I mean, his journal tracked how many times she came back and knowing about Colton and having to bring her through so many things. I couldn’t imagine having to carry that weight. He was also the only one that was there for Del during that whole time that Kat was gone.”

In addition to a possible engagement, Kat will be time-traveling again in the new season — and heads to the 1920s, where she’ll meet a young Fern Landry (Bianca Melchior).

“I’m so excited, because it’s kind of Kat’s first time that she goes back, and she really enjoys where she is, as opposed to being chased with pitchforks and nearly hanged for being a witch,” Leigh says. “She kind of gets to go and play a little bit.”

“And the characters in that arc are phenomenal,” she adds. “We have some potentially surprise time-travelers this season, but for our ’20s cast and the characters, they’re brilliant. That’s such a big, boisterous, ostentatious kind of time, and our creators and wardrobe department, everybody, hair, makeup, set design, set design: it’s stunning.”

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Dive into the fourth and final season of The Way Home, premiering Sunday, April 19 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Hallmark Channel and streaming the next day on Hallmark+.

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