When Sweet Magnolias returns for Season 3, a new arrival in Serenity, South Carolina, will shake things up for our trio of BFFs — Maddie, Helen, and Dana Sue. But before we reconvene our Friday margarita nights on July 20, let’s revisit who each character is and where we left them in Season 2.
Mom-of-three Maddie is brushing herself off after her split from high school sweetheart Bill. She’s embarked on a new relationship with with ex–pro baseball player Cal, whose past ways might be catching up to him, and has a new career path: managing the spa the titular Sweet Magnolias decide to open together. Her love of her hometown runs deep — so deep, in fact, that she’s become more involved in the local government.
The No. 1 attorney in Serenity, Helen has been in a long-term on-and-off relationship with childhood love Ryan (Michael Shenefelt). In one of their off periods, she’s begun seeing Dana Sue’s sous chef, Erik (Dion Johnstone). Helen wants to be a mother, but tragically suffers a miscarriage. She ends Season 2 with Ryan returning to town — and proposing to her at last.
Chef Dana Sue is the mastermind behind Serenity’s hotspot restaurant Sullivan’s, where her teen daughter, Annie, helps out in her spare time. While sparks have flown between Dana Sue and her friendly farm supplier, Jeremy (Chase Anderson), and between her and old fling Micah (Marland Burke), it’s estranged husband Ronnie (Brandon Quinn) who has her heart by the end of Season 2.
Maddie’s ex-husband is the town doctor and father of their three kids — and new father of a baby girl with Noreen. While Bill and Noreen’s affair caused cataclysmic change in the Townsend family home, they’re no longer together.
Over the course of the first season, nurse Noreen realizes she deserves better than Bill and plans to move back home with her parents. After giving birth to a baby girl, she realizes she loves her new life in Serenity and moves in with her best friend, Isaac.
The new baseball coach at Serenity High School is a former MLB player and mentor to Maddie’s eldest son, Ty — which complicates things when he and Maddie get together. He’s a silent partner in Sullivan’s with Dana Sue and trying to turn over a new leaf after a wild past.
A car accident in Season 1 derails star pitcher Ty’s dreams of going pro, and Season 3 sees the high schooler reconsider what he plans to do with his life.
The middle Townsend child, Kyle, is the star of Serenity High School’s drama club even though he’s an underclassman. He harbors a crush on Annie.
Dana Sue and Ronnie’s daughter, Annie, has a passion for photography and has been friends with the Townsend boys her whole life.
Isaac works at Sullivan’s, but he moved to Serenity with an ulterior motive: to find his birth mother. He knows she’s from the small town but little else, and he has no clue who his father could be.
Click over here for a full recap, but to summarize: Maddie and Bill split because of his affair with Noreen; Noreen and Bill split because he’s a philanderer; the Sweet Magnolias open a spa together; Maddie dates Cal; Helen dates Erik; Dana Sue dates Jeremy and Micah.
A car crash throws Ty’s baseball dreams a curveball in the form of a torn ACL. Helen, who always wanted kids, discovers she’s pregnant but miscarries; she also officially starts dating Erik. Dana Sue reconciles with Ronnie. Cal gets fired (and later arrested!), driving a wedge in his relationship with Maddie. Isaac finds both his birth mother and his birth father — it’s Bill! (but no one else knows, not even Bill himself) — and Bill and Noreen have a beautiful baby girl.
Dana Sue inherits a large chunk of money from Miss Frances, who happens to be the aunt of Helen’s ex, Ryan. Speaking of Ryan, he realizes he’s given up on a good thing and comes back to town — and proposes to Helen! Cal, in an attempt to protect Maddie from an overzealous fan, gets into a fight in the middle of Sullivan’s. (Police are on their way.) Maddie’s been getting more involved in town politics, including inspiring a mayoral recall election, causing blowback that affects the Magnolias’ kids. (The mayor’s wife forbids her children from seeing Ty, Kyle, and Annie.) And the Magnolias learn that a mysterious woman from their past is back in town… and they are not happy about it.
Find out who she is when Sweet Magnolias Season 3 debuts on July 20.
