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GOING HOME Creator Says Show is ‘About Life’: ‘Thought-Provoking’
By Movieguide® Contributor
GOING HOME creator Dan Merchant explained the inspiration for the show and how it stands apart from other medical dramas.
“I write the show along with my wife, Kara Merchant, and Matt Mikalatos; so that is our writer core…” Merchant told Movieguide®. “It’s a real team effort to bring this story to life about a hospice nurse named Charley Copeland.”
The show follows “A team of nurses [who] help…guide patients and loved ones with finding peace and wrapping up loose ends with compassion and dignity.”
“The show is a beautiful show. It’s challenging, it’s dynamic and there’s a lot there. It’s a good, entertaining television show, but it really does, I think, offer hope and illumination around a difficult subject: end-of-life care and leaving this world for the next one,” Merchant continued. “We bit off a lot, but with great writers and directors and actors, we’re told that it works, and we’re really happy the people find it a beautiful show.”
The show is notably different from other medical dramas on TV as it focuses on preparing patients and families for death rather than on the struggle of trying to save them. Instead of relationship dramas, the show tackles existential issues.
“I see the show is not about death, it’s about life, and that’s where the really interesting intersections with people come, and you don’t have to wait to be on your deathbed to go, ‘Gosh, I probably should apologize to so and so,’ or ‘Gosh, it would have meant a lot to me if they’d have reconciled with me.’ And there’s a lot of those kinds of stories, the real heartfelt, heavy, beautiful, cathartic kinds of stories,” Merchant explained.
“I love the show because it’s messy,” he previously told Pure Flix. “Nobody’s perfect, so why create that fantasy? I want that to be inviting to the audience. Because we created this space with this show, to talk about death and these scenarios, [all the cast and crew felt comfortable] telling their story. It turns out it’s the most relatable show we’ve worked on.”
“I think [the show] can’t help be thought-provoking because this is an experience we’ve all had and/or will have. You know, this whole death thing is going to come for everybody,” he added.
The universal experience of death prompted Merchant to create the show in the first place. He and Kara had a conversation about death and how difficult it is to talk about, and the idea to create a show was born.
After further discussing their personal experiences with hospice between themselves and Mikalatos, they reached out to hospice nurses at a local hospital to get further insight into the process.
“Most of the GOING HOME stories are inspired loosely or in some way or another [by] actual interviews with hospice nurses who told us their experiences,” Merchant said.
“The most beautiful thing I asked them, the first question I asked when we sat down to interview them was, ‘How do you guys always know to say the right thing?’ And their answer was, ‘Well, we try really hard to be present.’ That’s what you see dramatized by Cynthia G’s character, Charley,” he continued. “She takes that little moment, a little quiet moment before she enters so that once you’re in the room – and this is what the hospice nurses explained – it’s like, it’s not about me. It’s not about what I’m bringing into this room… And so you’re still, and you’re present, and you’re there just to help.”
GOING HOME season 2 is currently debuting new episodes every Friday on Pure Flix.
Check out Movieguide®’s full interview with Merchant here:
Movieguide® previously reported:
The faith-based drama GOING HOME, which debuted last June, will return for a second season on Jan. 5 and run every Friday through Feb. 9.
The Affirm original series centers around a hospice nurse, Charley Copeland, “who sees her role as a calling from God to help shepherd people from this life to eternity,” the press release detailed on the upcoming series.
The series will see the return of Cozi Zuehlesdorff, Aviona Rodriguez Brown, Steve Lloyd, Christopher Wiehl, Elly Sims, Trent Sims and Cynthia Geary, who plays Charley.
“This is one of my favorite and most meaningful roles,” Geary said. “I can’t wait for GOING HOME fans to experience this new season filled with stories of compassion and forgiveness.”
The show also has guest appearances from Karen Allen (RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK), Ellen Travolta (CHARLES IN CHARGE) and Gloria Reuben (LINCOLN).
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