Sweet Magnolias’ co-stars and love interests Heather Headley and Dion Johnstone are good friends and share an excellent rapport. The minute we started our joint virtual Zoom interview, it was apparent how much they had missed working together.
We had the opportunity to chat with Headley and Johnstone during a recent press day, and it was one of the most fun chat experiences. This interview was conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Both actors were disappointed they didn’t work much together during Sweet Magnolias Season 3, though they enjoyed their challenging, emotional arcs.
Headley and Johnstone shared their thoughts on Helen and Erik’s breakup and whether they believed a reunion was possible. We also discussed the various friendships on the series and Helen taking in CeCe.
Check out the in-depth interview below.
Hello Dion and Heather. I am a huge fan of both of yours, and I know you both have a massive fan base. I also saw you enjoy working together. This season must have been tough, barely interacting with each other after your emotional breakup scene.
Dion: Heather, I don’t know if you remember this when we were filming the breakup scene, and we were waiting while they were setting the lights, and you mentioned now we’d have to wait until the end of the season when we have our reuniting in the rain at the doorbell, hair streaming, product coming down trying to changing my mind.
Heather: Take me back to the songs and the music. Laura, I’m going to get in a lot of trouble from what I’ve seen online about this whole thing. I’ve told our showrunner Sheryl that she’s not been nice to me.
I told her that when the show launches, I will go to Tibet and be with the monks, find a cave, and sit there for a while until the blow over happens because I don’t think people will be excited about it. Some will be happy about it, but most won’t.
But yes, it was incredibly emotional to do it. It’s not fun work. I think we relish those moments, and we enjoy those moments as actors because they’re challenging, and you enjoy digging deep because, in the end, there’s going to be a great arc to it and a great ending.
It was not fun, and I was telling somebody the entire time that you’re filming, you’re giving angst because you can’t let that down for too long. We couldn’t film a scene and exchange small talk. We each went to our corners which kept the mood in check. These scenes allowed us to dive deeper and better connect with these characters.
I don’t know what will happen with Erik and Helen going forward, but I hope it improves them. We will see. Laura, there’s that problem with Genevieve too, but we won’t talk about that.
It seemed like Erik and Helen might reunite by the end of Season 3. There were little scenes that gave me hope. Is there potential for a reunion?
Dion: I definitely think there’s potential for a reunion. But there’s a journey to be taken before that could happen. One of the big things for Erik, and indeed when he got the news, he reacted so strongly that he never stopped to ask, but why? Why do you need to think about it?
So, there’s a missing component to this change in Helen’s feelings and what she needs to consider that he doesn’t know. That’s set him on a confusing journey, figuring out why it didn’t work. Why would she go back to someone who, from my understanding, fundamentally couldn’t work?
They disagreed on the most important thing in her life, which was irreconcilable. We understood that before we started. So how can this guy come in and potentially sweep her back? Is there something that I missed? Did I overestimate my value in this relationship?
It sets him on a whole journey of needing to define his value for himself because he feels on many fronts that he’s overextended himself and hasn’t stood up for who he is and what he needs. Enough. And this is why this is this is happening. But there’s a big piece that he’s missing.
For a large part of the season, he’s hurt and angry. A portion of him wants to punish all those around him. He leaves the restaurant. He leaves his community. Then he hits the point where it’s like no healing has to happen, and he wants to stop hurting and not hurt anyone else.
That’s when he starts to create the space where he can be open to Helen again and realize that he’s never stopped loving her. They’re in different worlds, and he feels caught since he’s unsure if it’s possible to move forward from this. He’s started something new, and he won’t drop that.
But the more significant thing is that we still need to talk. We still don’t know where each other’s hearts and heads are. He doesn’t understand why this happened in the first place. I think there’s a lot of ground for them to cover, and if they could make it through that, it could be an incredible relationship.
I hope so because you guys are my favorite couple on the show. I am totally Team Erik.
Heather: Team Erik. I hear that all the time. I’m all team Erik. If you don’t pick Erik, it’s going to throw my remote at the TV, is what I’m hearing.
I’m sorry. I love Helen and you, Heather, but I’m still Team Erik.
Heather: I get it, Laura. I get your subtext. Part of my job is to deal with subtext, and I’m hearing your subtext loud and clear. She’s like, I like you, Heather. But I’m all team Erik.
When Helen broke up with Erik and chose Ryan, how did that alter the dynamics in the core group of friends?
Heather: It’s like divorce when you’re in a situation where all the friendships are so intertwined. People are trying to pick sides and not pick sides. You have somebody like Isaac who likes Helen and loves Eric, so how do you choose, or there’s Dana Sue who loves both of her friends deeply.
All these relationships are tied together, and it takes work for them. But to Dion’s point about the fact that Eric doesn’t question why, which I understand, he didn’t want to hear. He felt Helen had made her decision. The Magnolias understood because Helen told them why she had to see this through.
She would always think about the what-ifs and have regrets if she didn’t see it through. This is what has been the motto in her life. It’s always been. What would have happened with Ryan? We might disagree with her, but her choice is to see it through, see where it goes, and see it to the end.
This time there’s an end. So, the girls understand that. Now that causes some trouble, and it causes a little mess in the future. But thank God for good friendships. There is a fallout because people you want to pick, you want to pick sides to some extent.
The guys hung out a lot more this season than in other seasons. What was that like for you, Dion?
Dion: That was a lot of fun. It speaks to the texture and the quality of the show that features strong relationships between the women, but you also have solid male characters working on themselves.
From the beginning of Sweet Magnolias Season 3, Erik recognizes signs in Cal that he’s been through and still is working on. He steps in to offer some support, and it’s great because the ball court starts to become more than just the place where the guys can shoot some hoops and do some smack talk.
It becomes a real place where without even asking for it, people can lend support to each other on whatever they need without judgment. Erik’s been learning those tools through his PTSD group, and he sees the opportunity to help Cal before he goes into a deep dark hole.
But I also find it ironic because much of the advice he shares with Cal in Sweet Magnolias Season 3 Episode 1 becomes stuff he has to unknowingly sort through and deal with. He doesn’t know that he’s also headed down that path alone.
So, on one level, he’s building community, and then on another level, because he’s hurting, he’s pushing himself away from the community, which I find is very human. It’s always easier to help others than to accept help yourself. That’s part of the roller coaster of what he goes through.
But it’s part of the beauty of what’s developing in Serenity. There’s a moment where Isaac comes at Eric. And Eric’s always been in the mentorship position, and there have been times when he’s been rough on Isaac to get him to see things more clearly. This becomes a turn of events where Eric needs that.
I don’t think he’s used to that dynamic in the relationship. So, seeing these male friendships grow, develop, and become more than just surface is excellent.
Heather: Laura, as women, we talk. We can get together, and we sit, and we cook. We get the food, get over our coffees, chat, and pour it out. Men don’t necessarily do that as well as women can because they are told not to show their emotions or talk.
And one of the beautiful things the writers have done this season was to almost give them their margarita night on the basketball court where they can talk.
My husband does it on the golf course with his friends. It’s the one time that you get a man for five hours, and you talk. Men learn about each other sometimes through sports, such as dealing with loss or cheating.
I enjoyed watching them stand with each other, hold each other accountable, and help them through it because they’re all battered. Cal has his problems. Ronnie needs his forgiveness, and Erik has his issues. Isaac is holding on to lots of secrets. And so it’s nice to see that as well.
I loved those scenes. For my final question, Helen always wanted kids, so I found it fascinating when she let CeCe move in with her this season. What was that like, Heather?
Heather: It’s true when the Magnolias say she jumps from the pot to the fire. I wondered if she was going to have a lovely baby. I have my little stroller; I’m ready for this. And then they’re like, no, she’s 18. You’re going to have a big old kid.
I thought it was lovely and it hit me out of left field. I was not prepared. Our writers are not friendly to us, Laura, because we don’t get a script. We get two episodes at a time, two weeks before. You really don’t know what’s going on, and you’re playing the moment of it.
You’re playing the moment, and they’re smart because now and then, Sheryl will come to you and say, this may extend to this. I want you to know that something will happen, So when I read that CeCe was going to come live with Helen, I was like, Oh, out of left field. I thought. I thought Helen was going to have a baby.
Amazingly, Helen gets this girl who’s had trouble, and most likely, Helen’s changed the course of her life. Helen can now mentor in her household, teach her things, and hold her hand through it to show her a different way to live. CeCe now has a path to be a lawyer or something else.
So, yes, I was also surprised that Helen would have somebody at the house. On the other hand, Helen would do something like that with me. Ryan can’t live with her, but she’ll bring somebody else.
I loved it.
Heather: Ryan, you must find a house, but come live with me. So. I love that she did that. And Laura, to that point, though, one of the things that this show has done for me at times is to remind me about just community.
There were those days when we lived in that community, and I hope there is still is when people would find these kids if somebody was going to college and didn’t have a space to stay and was in that situation.
I love that that is replayed to say somebody needs help, and you can step in and say, Yeah, why don’t you come live with me for a year, and it’ll be okay. So that’s the beauty of Serenity.
Well, thank you so much for chatting with me. I enjoyed talking to you both. I hope we get another season so I can see the road back to Helen and Erik.
Dion: Team, let’s bring them together again.
Sweet Magnolias Season 3 is streaming now on Netflix.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Laura Nowak is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
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