A Conversation With ‘Sweet Magnolias’ Star Chris Medlin

Article contributed by Ailish Brassil

Sweet Magnolias is a heartwarming show about family and friends who offer advice and support one another to overcome various life obstacles. Played by Chris Medlin, Isaac Downey is a lovable, caring character who has travelled to the town of Serenity in search of his birth mother. He works as a chef for a local restaurant and he learns a lot throughout the show from his friends that are more like family. With Season 2 of Sweet Magnolias having released in February with season 3 in the works, we had the pleasure of speaking with Chris about his experience of bringing Isaac to life on screen.

What do you love about Sweet Magnolias?

I love that it is the type of show that has something for everyone who is watching it. The team wanted to be sure that, at its core, that this show would be something that families could watch together. There are no open heart surgeries on the screen where people have to cover their eyes. There is romance, there is drama, there are high stakes, there’s the teen element, the twenty something year old characters; they made sure everyone is covered. There’s enough there that people are easily interested in what’s occurring on screen. The whole process has been very special for me. The person I would be closest with in my family is my grandmother. She’s in her late seventies and she eats this show up. She loves it; to her she thinks it is high stakes, high drama. She is nail-biting just watching it on her couch. For me, I get a different aspect from it like it is a heartwarming, calm enough show that is a great binge-watch. I can put it on in the background and it’s not going to be super loud or anything. But I love that we can share this from a distance and she will call and say I watched this episode again today. I am actually from a little town in Tennessee and like Serenity there are few staple businesses, everyone knows everybody. It has been really enriching to get phone calls and text messages from people from my hometown who love watching this show.

You have an emotional role in the show, are there any challenges in bringing Isaac’s story on screen?

With season one, I did not have a challenge, more of a welcome project because Isaac doesn’t exist in the book series by Sherryl Woods that the first season is loosely based on. My homework was to decide what his backstory was. Besides this quest to find his birth parents, like who is Isaac? I had to formulate what his journey has been that brought him to Serenity. I had to decide his motivations, what he has been through that made him leave everything he knows and go to this town where he may not even find the answers he’s looking for. This part is where the work lies in Isaac. I think Isaac’s story is unfortunately very common and a relatable story. Not the specifics of it but there are so many variations of his story as a lot of people come from non-traditional homes and families. It is a relatable story to myself also. I’ve gotten texts from different people saying that Isaac’s story has sparked conversations which is amazing.

What do you love about Isaac Downey?

I love his caring nature. He is a very devoted young man, he’s very loyal to his people. Even with building his backstory, things needed to be intense enough for him to leave his home life to go to Serenity and I think he finds his community through his workplace. We meet Isaac already working at Sullivan’s. It is all he knows and as a result he is unimaginably loyal to these people and he will do anything for them. It is an admirable quality of his. He also gives people a lot of grace which is what the show is about. Looking at the lives of others through those people’s eyes. Being kind and understanding and knowing everyone is going through their own things. This show is about the acceptance of what is going on behind everyone’s closed doors. We get to see what is bothering Isaac and how it affects him at work even when nobody knows. He is also a little bit sneakyJ  

The show is full of southern sayings, have you got a favourite quote from Isaac or from the show itself?

The show is a treasure trove of them. There are so many quotes but probably my favourite is, “Do the storms ever stop? No, but neither do the rainbows.” I just feel like this quote encompasses the entire show. My friends and I had a watch party for the premiere of season two because of the pandemic and their favourite quote from this season so far is “You are busier than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.” The meaning of these quotes can be found in the imagery that they create which is cool.

How did you react to the identity of Isaac’s birth parents?

The team made sure through our filming process that we didn’t know much more than the characters knew at the time. This is really helpful so you don’t have to forget knowing the answer. Throughout filming, until we got to the episode where it was revealed, I was never sure who Isaac’s birth mother was. When Peggy was revealed, I was like yes okay this makes sense they lined this one up. I have been amazed seeing fans of the show on the internet who quickly guessed it was Peggy because she left Serenity for about a year. I didn’t know who the dad was until the week we were filming episode nine. It’s the only scene I have in that episode where I walk up and say Dr Townsend. With Isaac’s dad, I didn’t think it was Bill. I thought it was Ryan because they were hinting that Ryan and Peggy needed to talk. Also, Peggy needed to talk to the Mayor about something and that would have been cool drama because Trent is Mary Vaughn’s husband who is Peggy’s best friend. The team was great at casting as anyone could have been my parents. Myself and Ryan have a similar bone structure, Ronnie and I have that light scruff on the jawline so it could have been him either. The only one I didn’t think of was Bill. In hindsight, I have a picture of myself, Brittany (Peggy) and Chris (Bill) and it’s not in this picture but it made me realise that myself and Chris have the same little smirk/half smile thing that we do. It is very much an Isaac-ism. I think the drama that is going to ensue by uniting all these groups together will be huge. Bill now has five children living in the same town and Isaac is living with his technically ex step-mother and he is helping to raise his little half-sister.

Did you always love acting?

No, I didn’t. I am a singer and have been singing since I was probably six years old. My grandmother sang when she was younger. I have always been in choir. I am the first singer, dancer, and actor in my family. I started in this industry in the commercial dance world doing music videos with different artists. I made my Broadway debut in Mean Girls in 2018. Then I got Sweet Magnolias. This job has opened up a world that I am fully enjoying stepping into – the love and support for season two has made it so exciting. After season one, I stepped back into theatre and I did Diana. It gave me my own solo song which was very special. I’ve found this world of tv through Sweet Magnolias and its opening up a lot of doors for me that I never saw happening which is very exciting!

Being a singer, dancer, and an actor, do you get nervous and do you have any tips to overcome it?

Yes, I absolutely get nervous. Isaac is my first speaking role so I do remember the size of my nerves when I first started the season one filming process. I’ve had this saying in my head since I was younger which is if you’re anxious or nervous about something, it’s because you care. It’s okay to be nervous, excited and anxious about things and it’s cool to care. The nerves are always there; they don’t go away; they just channel themselves in a different way. With the first season, I was nervous about doing everything right. Whereas in season two, the main source of anxiety for me was making sure I could do Isaac justice. The choices I was making for him, the way I’m saying the lines, his mannerisms making sure they were true to him.

What is next for you? Any upcoming projects?

There is a whole lot of stuff I want to do. I would like to do something involving a supernatural or an action aspect, whether that be superheroes or magic or what have you. Playing a superhero is probably top of my list at the moment. Give me powers or a bunch of stuff blowing up and I’m a happy camper. I love Marvel and all of the DC series that are streaming at the moment. I am also a big fan of the darker, grittier, teen dramas like Riverdale, Euphoria, Thirteen Reasons Why, and Gossip Girl that are streaming at the moment. I’d love to do one of those style teen dramas.

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