Although their characters couldn’t be further from friends, Jamie Lynn Spears and JoAnna Garcia Swisher completely bonded on set of Sweet Magnolias.
“She’s incredible. She’s so beautiful and she’s such a great mom, and we connected on so many levels,” Swisher, 40, says exclusively in the latest issue of Us Weekly. “She’s really close with her family, and her mom was there with her, helping her with the baby. In the world we live in, it’s all a family affair. It’s all hands on deck, and everybody’s super involved and it’s nice. We really bonded over that.”
In the new Netflix drama, Swisher portrays Maddie Townsend, a woman who was blindsided by a divorce as her ex (portrayed by Chris Klein) moves on with his new, pregnant girlfriend (Spears). In order to move forward, Maddie leans on her best friends and reenters the world as a single mom.
“Interestingly enough, our characters are not very, they’re not very tight,” the Pitch alum says. “Obviously she’s the other woman, but she played the character in such a just beautiful, vulnerable and endearing way that I really hope — if we get a season 2 — that we get an opportunity to explore what that friendship looks like or what that relationship looks like. She’s precious. I love her.”
Although she’s happily married to former MLB star Nick Swisher, the actress also strongly related to her character.
“She’s a strong lady, much stronger than she thinks and in a moment in her life where she’s surprising herself around every corner. Her whole world is anew, and it’s been easy for her to kind of accept what her life was and the relationship that she had and the monotony of it,” JoAnna explains. “As it sort of was taken from her, she’s learning a lot about herself.”
The Once Upon a Time alum, who is a mom to Emerson, 7, and Sailor, 3, was excited to play a “strict” mom in the romantic series.
“She’s got her kids in line and [she’s] very supportive,” she says. “Her whole life has really been about being a mom and dedicated to that, and now it was fun to really explore the idea that while she can still be a great mom, she can also learn new things about herself and kind of give to herself in that way.”
For more from JoAnna, pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now, and watch the video above.
With reporting by Marc Lupo
