‘The Way Home’ Showrunner Reveals Why Elliot Didn’t Propose to Kat During Season 3 Finale

The Way Home season 3 finale was full of twists and turns, including an almost proposal between Elliot Augustine and Kat Landry.

“That is such a typical Elliot thing,” coshowrunner Alexandra Clarke told TVLine on Monday, March 17, referring to the season finale cliffhanger. “He needs his perfect moment.”

During the March 7 finale, Elliot (Evan Williams) and Kat (Chyler Leigh) had a heart-to-heart about their relationship after his ex-wife, Emma Baker (Miranda Millar), and her lover from the 1800s, Thomas Coyle (Kris Holden-Ried), briefly derailed their modern-day romance.

“Let’s just love each other as we are,” Elliot told Kat before kissing her, after they both confessed to messing up in the past.

As they pulled apart, Kat noticed that Elliot’s father had returned his family ring. The diamond had belonged to his mother and ancestor Susanna Augustine (Watson Rose), whom Kat became close with during her time traveling to the 1800s.

“I will find the perfect moment,” Elliot revealed when asked if he was proposing. Kat kissed him in celebration, noting, “I know it’s going to be perfect.”

Clarke, meanwhile, teased that she loved the moment between Elliot and Kat, calling it “spontaneous.” However, Elliot’s desire to be “perfect” is what kept it from being a full-blown proposal.

“Them acknowledging to just start loving each other as they are, not as they were, is such an important thing for these two characters to say to one another,” Clarke explained. “Because if you really do think about it, they have been in love with their past versions, versus who they are right now, which isn’t perfect.”

She noted the characters are “flawed” and they have “burdens and trauma” which have postponed their romance more than once.

“To kind of acknowledge that and say, ‘I want to start loving you as you are now, clean slate,’ is a big thing for these two characters,” Clarke revealed.

Although Kat choosing Elliot in the present during season 3 meant leaving Thomas in the past — literally — Clarke said both types of love were important for Kat.

“The love [between] Thomas and Kat, it’s fleeting and it’s intense and it’s dangerous and it’s passionate and it’s this crazing, boiling thing,” the showrunner explained.

When it comes to Elliot, who has loved Kat since they were kids, there is a “constant.” Clarke noted, “It’s slow, it’s easy, it’s familiar and it’s safe.”

Even with Kat and Elliot getting back together at the end of the season, coshowrunner Heather Conkie confessed their possible breakup was stressful to handle for the team.

“They both drive me crazy. It’s just like, ‘Oh, come on!’ But that’s who they are,” Conkie told TVLine, referring to Kat and Elliot self-sabotaging on several occasions before the finale. “Who knows if they’re meant to be together, because every time they get close, something happens that makes them think they’re not perfect for each other or whatever, and I don’t know.”

Leigh, meanwhile, exclusively told Us Weekly in January that Kat and Elliot have a “Ross and Rachel” from Friends style dynamic.

“You got to have that little bit [of] back and forth. [Plus], when they live in such a fantastical world — something that is so hard to really wrap your mind around — all of a sudden, we have these characters in a place where it’s like, ‘Oh, well what do we do in real life?’” the actress said. “If one adventure seemingly ends, where do we go from here? So it’s a lot of those reality check moments that I think we don’t see what that in-between with Kat and Elliot looks like.”

While Kat and Elliot’s engagement status is on pause, fans will get to see what’s next for their love story when season 4 premieres. The show was renewed by Hallmark Channel earlier this month, but a release date for the next installment has not been announced.

Every episode of The Way Home is streaming on Hallmark+.