Get ready for more margarita nights in Serenity — Sweet Magnolias has been renewed for season 4.
Netflix announced the news on Wednesday, October 18, after season 3 debuted at No. 1 on the streaming service in July. The season 4 renewal — which will consist of 10 50-minute episodes — joins a growing lineup of “comfort” and lighter scripted dramas from Netflix that include original shows like Virgin River, The Lincoln Lawyer and Ginny & Georgia. Sheryl J. Anderson will return as showrunner and executive producer, with Dan Paulson also returning as an executive producer.
Sweet Magnolias — which is based on the book series by Sherryl Woods of the same name — follows lifelong best friends Maddie (JoAnna Garcia Swisher), Dana Sue (Brooke Elliott), and Helen (Heather Headley) as they juggle relationships, family, and careers in the charming — and fictitious — small town of Serenity, South Carolina. Chris Klein, Justin Bruening, Carson Rowland, Anneliese Judge, Logan Allen, Jamie Lynn Spears, Brandon Quinn, and Dion Johnstone round out the cast.
Season 3 saw Maddie working on her relationship with Cal (Bruening) while Dana Sue basked in her rejuvenated marriage with Ronnie (Quinn) and Helen called it quits for good with on-off fiancé Ryan (Michael Shenefelt). The trio also faced their first conflict with each other as Helen’s frustrations about Maddie and Dana Sue’s lack of support came to a boil. While the women were able to fix their fractured dynamic, it wasn’t a story line any Headley, 49, enjoyed playing out on screen.
“It just wasn’t fun. I like [Brooke and JoAnna] so much and it’s hard to fight with somebody that you like,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in July. “And we had to keep that going for, like, four hours. That tension. You’re just like, ‘Ugh.’ There was this part of me that couldn’t go over talk [to them and then] go yell at [them]. When it was over, I just had to go home and shower it off and then just be like, ‘Alright, that will never happen again.’”
Season 3 also saw changes for the younger generation of Serenity. Ty (Rowland) and longtime BFF Annie (Judge) continued to navigate their complicated relationship as Ty began to develop feelings for Annie just as she began dating his former nemesis, Jackson (Sam Ashby). While that relationship eventually came crashing down — and the finale saw Ty and Annie secretly holding hands at her parents’ vow renewal — Rowland, 25, thinks fans will have to wait a little longer for the pair’s blossoming romance.
“The writers, they love this slow burn. And I think what they’re doing is turning the furnace on so gradually to get people’s excitement up,” he exclusively told Us earlier this summer. “And I love how the season ends with this subtle hint towards the relationship. And it’s a massive cliffhanger of the season.”
Rowland added that he thinks what lies ahead for Ty and Annie will keep people coming back for more. “Because what happens after that? Are they together? Are they not? We don’t know,” he said.
What’s to come for the characters and the town of Serenity is unknown, but Rowland said he’s open to the series staying true to the narratives of the novels, which features a massive time jump that would follow Ty and Annie — and the rest of the younger Sweet Magnolias crew — into adulthood.
“I would absolutely love to do a time jump like that,” he told Us. “There’s so many amazing aspects of playing a blossoming adult and a teenager. But to play something more grounded and more real would be just awesome. Especially in knowing that [it would] be the first time I’ve played my own age, so that’d be awesome, you know?”
Seasons 1 through 3 of Sweet Magnolias is now streaming on Netflix.
