Currently starring in two wonderful and heartwarming Hallmark Channel projects, young actress Bailee Madison is riding a wonderful wave of success. Bailee currently co-stars in the Hallmark Channel original TV series GOOD WITCH along with Catherine Bell and James Denton, and Bailee is reprising her role as Clementine, a joyous Christmas elf, in the sequel film NORTHPOLE 2 aka “Northpole: Open for Christmas,” which co-stars Lori Loughlin and Dylan Mulroney.
GOOD WITCH follows the tale of Cassie Nightingale (Catherine Bell) and her daughter Grace (Bailee Madison) and their curious neighbors Dr. Sam Radford (James Denton) and his teenage son Nick (Rhys Matthew-Bond) who have begun to wonder about Cassie and Grace’s unique ability to not only be in the right place at the right time, but who also seem to foresee dire events before they happen.
In NORTHPOLE 2, Lori Loughlin plays an determined businesswoman who seems lacking the holiday spirit who finds she has inherited an old inn at Christmas time. But then she decides to sell the inn, a handsome local handyman (portrayed by Dylan Mulroney) and a cheerful young elf (portrayed by Bailee Madison) intervene, helping her rediscover love and the magic of Christmas.
While at last summer’s Hallmark “Christmas in July” event for the Television Critics Association, Bailee Madison took a few minutes to chat about the upcoming season of GOOD WITCH and NORTHPOLE 2.
You must be so excited that GOOD WITCH is coming back for Season 2.
BAILEE: It’s awesome! We’re so thrilled. We start filming soon back in Toronto and, obviously, the writers have been working all summer to come up with some new great storylines.
Do you ever get tempt to nudge the writers a little bit?
BAILEE: [Laughs] I actually don’t have a problem with that. I’m always telling them, “You know, what would be really cute if ____.”
Like more scenes with James Denton?
BAILEE: I know! It’s so funny. We talked about that. We’re hoping that Grace can come a little bit more involved in the adult storylines. So we’ll see what happens there. But, yeah, James and I only had a handful of scenes last season. We would joke about how I would only see him as he walking out just as I would go in to film. I’d be like, “Wait, you’re still on the show?!” And he’d be like, “Bailee Madison? Is that you?!” I would love to work with James more.
What else can we hope to see in Season 2 of GOOD WITCH?
BAILEE: It’s about Grace discovering her magic even more. In the first season, it was hinted on and talked about it. But this next season, she is really trying to figure out her abilities and what she is able to do and just how she influences people. So it will be great to see her navigate through that.
Is Grace even aware of her abilities at this point?
BAILEE: I don’t think she is. I don’t think she knows what she is doing. I think it is like when you get a box and it has toys, like when you’re younger and you threw away the instructions, and you’re like, “Hey, what does this do?” I think that is kind of where she is right now. I think she is going to start learning about those more — and learning about people — especially guys. It will be fun to see how she grows up this season.
Is Grace aware of the witchy-side of her family? It seems like at times it is just intuitive for her.
BAILEE: It is very intuitive. I think that’s true for the entire family. The one thing they have never done is said, “Are they witches or are they not?” It’s always been up to the audience. But I think this next season will explore that a lot more and Cassie will figure it out more in order to help Grace figure it out and see what they really do have and how they are going to use it and what it is, like: are they just really good people or is there something extra special about them?
Is Grace even ready for romance in her life?
BAILEE: [Laughs] I can never tell. She is very hot and cold. She’s like the Katy Perry song. I honestly don’t know what is up with her! Which is funny because I would talk to Rhys [Matthew Bond] and Shane [Harte] and I’d be like, “I just literally hugged you and tried to never let you go and then in the next episode she’s like: don’t want to talk to you. I’m my own person.” Which is really relatable as a teenage girl. You are hot-and-cold sometimes. You’re either really pumped and you wake up and think, “I’m single and never want to mingle.” It’s definitely like she’s going through what every 15 year old girl is going through — and what I’m kind of going through — so I can really relate to that.
Will we see Grace possibly exploring other teenage things, like learning to drive?
BAILEE: I hope so. That would be really funny! That would be great. Maybe Brandon (Dan Jeannotte) or even Lori (Hannah Endicott-Douglass) — as the big sister coming to the rescue.
Then talking about NORTHPOLE 2, what is Clementine’s journey going to be for that in this next film?
BAILEE: It’s really fun. In the second film, it was really important to show that elves grow up just like we do, and Clementine is a teenager now. There is a boy that she meets in the real world that may or may not be an elf himself. It’s also really fun to watch her kind of change her wardrobe and different things. She has a secret and this is one of the biggest missions she has ever done. So it is up to her to convince this woman without telling her why and it kind of brings the fear back up about protecting her home and protecting the spirit of Christmas.
Having portrayed Clementine in two films now, what is your favorite thing about her?
BAILEE: I love that she is always so happy. She looks for the best in people and she is not afraid to give it all and fall and pick herself back up again. I think that even though she is an elf that she is so relatable in that she really cares and that is really cute about her.
To see more of Bailee’s charming and infectiously joyous portrayals of both Grace and Clementine, be sure to catch the GOOD WITCH as it returns for a special Halloween episode on Saturday, October 24th at 9:00 pm on the Hallmark Channel. (Season 2 of GOOD WITCH will air in Spring 2016.) Then NORTHPOLE 2 aka “Northpole: Open For Christmas” will air Saturday, November 21 at 8:00 pm on Hallmark Channel.
SENIOR ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER | Tiffany covers events such as San Diego Comic-Con, WonderCon and press junkets, as well as covering events at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills. She has a great love for television and believes that entertainment is a world of wondrous adventures that deserves to be shared and explored. Tiffany is one of the newest members to the prestigious Television Critics Association and is happy to be able to share her passion for television shows with an even wider audience of fans and her fellow critics..
