JoAnna Garcia Swisher Reveals ‘Sweet Magnolias’ Season 5 ‘Has the Most Romance,’ Plus Her Thoughts on a Baby for Maddie and Cal (Exclusive) originally appeared on Parade.
While the titular Magnolias in Sweet Magnolias made their way to New York City in the upcoming season, they didn’t trade their margaritas for cosmos à la Carrie Bradshaw.
“We drank tequila all the way through Manhattan,” star JoAnna Garcia Swisher laughed in an exclusive new interview with Parade.
While they’re back in Serenity now, and are heading to another destination at the end of Season 5, the beloved Netflix series shot in the Big Apple at the beginning of the summer.
“I’m not gonna lie, Maddie liked NYC,” the actress admitted.
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Season 4 of Sweet Magnolias ended with Swisher’s character, Maddie, deciding to accept a job offer from a publishing house in New York. After everything Maddie has gone through, Swisher says she relishes the opportunity “to be able to step into a moment for Maddie where she kind of did choose herself a little bit and see where that leads her.”
“[The Magnolias] have a lot of fun. We covered a lot of ground in Manhattan, and I think it’s in Magnolia style with a lot of gratitude, a lot of just taking it all in,” Swisher shared. “I love the way that the Magnolias look at the world, and look at their friendship, and look at the idea that we can have it all and we deserve to believe in ourselves in that way.”
Related: All About JoAnna Garcia Swisher’s Home-Run Marriage
Swisher revealed that Sweet Magnolias fans can look forward to a new batch packed with romance and drama. “This season, in particular, has the most romance, I think, that we’ve ever had on our show in all five seasons,” adding, “It’s hard to even believe, but the most drama, too.”
Could a baby be in Cal and Maddie’s future? Swisher doesn’t know, but mysteriously teased, “This season is filled with new possibilities and new beginnings.”. I don’t mean to be so cagey about it, but I am excited to see how people feel about the idea of Cal and Maddie expanding their family after they watch the season. So I’m interested to see what fans will be rooting for after that.”
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Swisher, who made her directorial debut in Season 4 of Sweet Magnolias, is back in the director’s chair this season, helming two episodes. Directing and acting are just two of the many hats that the Reba alum wears—she’s also an executive producer. On Aug. 2, Swisher’s production company, Rolling Clover, debuted its first cable series, Providence Falls, with Hallmark Media.
The three-part event, starring The Bold Type‘s Katie Stevens, Tracker‘s Lachlan Quarmby and Spinning Out‘s Evan Roderick, is based on JudeDeveraux and Tara Sheets’ book series of the same name. Funnily enough, Swisher read the first book while she was working in Ireland for Hallmark.
“It felt very full circle in that way. Everything felt very meant to be about all of this,” she said. “It’s definitely a pinch-me moment in my life. Just even seeing the movies come together has been a dream come true. But now the thought of being able to share them with the world, it feels very special.”
And there are many other exciting projects on the horizon for Swisher. The co-founder of The Happy Place teased, “We have a very cool crime-solving procedural that we are developing right now. We have a little bit of a dark romance, we’re looking in the world of fantasy. We are just excited about bringing stories to life and adapting novels and really anything that will resonate with people, that will make people feel inspired, that they can see themselves in. We want people to connect with the stories that we tell, and that’s very much from every starting point of any project that we’ve taken on. But we have some exciting things that we’re going to be rolling out.”
Part 2 of Providence Falls premieres Aug. 9 at 8 p.m. ET on Hallmark Channel, followed by Part 3 on Aug. 16.
Next, Everything to Know About Season 5 of Sweet Magnolias
JoAnna Garcia Swisher Reveals ‘Sweet Magnolias’ Season 5 ‘Has the Most Romance,’ Plus Her Thoughts on a Baby for Maddie and Cal (Exclusive) first appeared on Parade on Aug 6, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 6, 2025, where it first appeared.
