SPOILER ALERT! This article contains spoilers from Season 4 of Sweet Magnolias.
Sweet Magnolias fans didn’t see this one coming. In the second episode of Season 4, which is now available to stream on Netflix, viewers learn that Bill Townsend (Chris Klein) has died.
The news comes from Maddie’s ex-mother-in-law, Bonnie Townsend (Judith Ivey), who contacts Maddie (Joanna Garcia Swisher) and informs her that Bill has suffered a fatal heart attack. His sudden death (which happens off-screen) devastates his children, ex-wife and friends.
“We came to a point where we were looking for an event that would just torque the whole town, and we thought of that awful point in your life where the first member of your friend group dies,” showrunner Sheryl J. Anderson exclusively tells Parade.
“Especially when they are young, and it’s unexpected. And it’s about how that challenges everybody in the group to not only support each other and guide each other forward, but then you find that you are asking those really deep questions. Sometimes you have to say goodbye to a character you love to get all of the other characters where they need to be.”
Anderson added that Bill’s death was handled off-camera because “we were a little smitten with the shock value.”
As for Swisher’s response to the storyline, she said, “As a mom, I just kept thinking to myself, ‘I can’t image what my kids are going through,’ and I think there were a few moments in the episodes that we were dealing with the death, that you can really see that was what I was thinking about. It was tough; I saw it as the end of an era. Lots of mixed emotions, a lot of heartache, but also closure, and just kind of a fresh start for them.”
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On a happier note, the first episode of the season features Maddie and Cal (Justin Bruening)’s surprise wedding, which takes place at their lavish Halloween party. “Cal and Maddie have a unique relationship, so we wanted to give them a unique wedding,” Anderson says of how the ceremony unfolded. “We hope that there are many, many seasons and many, many weddings ahead of us, so we thought that it was organic to their relationship for it to be a surprise.”
Of course, the fact that only Maddie, Cal, her children and Pastor June knew about the wedding beforehand led to some hard feelings for Helen (Heather Headley) and Dana Sue (Brooke Elliott), who were upset they were not part of the planning process.
Related: JoAnna Garcia Swisher’s Home-Run Marriage: All About Her Ball-Player Husband, Nick Swisher
When she initially read the script, Swisher recalls saying to herself, “’Oh, Lord, Helen and Dana Sue are going to kill me.’ But I got over that quickly and embraced it,” she tells Parade. “It was a fun way to start the season. I was excited about it more than anything.”
The major cliffhanger for Maddie is whether she’ll take the dream marketing job she was offered at a publishing house in Manhattan—and, if she does, what it’ll mean for Maddie’s ties to Serenity, Dana Sue and Helen, and margarita nights.
“We have a theme running through Season 4 of how often women are expected to put their dreams aside in order to take care of other people, and we wanted to look at that with Maddie, Annie, Dana Sue, and Helen,” Anderson tells Parade. “We have a lot of women writers on Sweet Magnolias, and the men in the writers’ room were also interested in exploring this. Just because she has a husband and a family, is she supposed to say no to this great job opportunity?”
Photo credit: Netflix©
When asked if this could be the end of margarita nights, Anderson responded, “I hope we get picked up for Season 5, so we can allay all of these concerns. It’s about how Cal and Maddie handle this, can they handle this, and will Maddie follow through?”
Swisher says she’s excited about Maddie’s job offer because it reflects real life. “You get job opportunities that take you outside of your bubble and reinvent relationships, and that’s what life is all about: how you do it together. So I think it’s a new level to explore, a great thing for Maddie to feel that sense of self again and reconnect in that way.”
She says she can’t imagine Maddie will leave Serenity for a long time, “but I think it will lend itself to some fun storytelling and an opportunity for the girls to get out of Serenity a little bit, and maybe have a little fun together.”
“Life takes you in a million different directions, but their relationships certainly aren’t a function of the fact that they all live in this small town together,” Swisher adds. “They are definitely in it for life, and wherever that life may take them.”
Season 4 of Sweet Magnolias is currently available to stream on Netflix.
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