When mother-daughter showrunners Heather Conkie and Alexandra Clarke started engaged on “The Method Residence” with creator Marly Reed, they didn’t deliberately set their websites on the world of “Alice in Wonderland.” As an alternative, it got here utterly pure.

“As we began taking a look at this present and the idea, it grew to become a lot clearer to us how oddly echoing all of it was to the e-book, and we kind of thought effectively, if it’s there, let’s use it. It’s a narrative a couple of lady that actually falls down the rabbit gap into an entire different world and is attempting to make sense of what she’s seeing and of her adventures there,” Alexandra tells Selection. With seamless comparisons, they started bringing bodily similarities and themes from the 1865 novel into Season 1.

“As soon as we had gone down that rabbit gap ourselves, we have been in a reduction e-book retailer and the primary books that have been proper there proper in entrance of us have been ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘By the Trying Glass,’ proper subsequent to one another,” Heather remembers. “We thought, ‘OK, that’s an indication.’”

The Hallmark drama contains cheeky references to a number of completely different well-known tales — every little thing from “Peter Pan” and “Narnia” to “Not One other Teen Film” (which additionally stars “The Method Residence” actor Chyler Leigh) — nevertheless it’s the “Alice” comparability that viewers maintain noticing on social media every week. The second season continued that theme, following a bit nearer to the adventures from the sequel, “By the Trying Glass.”

This time round, the showrunners and writers made a extra “concerted effort” to have a look at the second e-book, one they view as a “a lot darker model of ‘Alice in Wonderland.’”

“The way in which it begins is her wanting by way of a mirror into this different world and questioning what’s there and hoping it’ll take her again to Wonderland. It does, nevertheless it’s a wonderland that’s the other way up and reversed. Every thing good is unhealthy and every little thing up is down and should you truly take a look at Alice’s journey particularly by way of Season 2, that’s precisely what occurred,” Alexandra says. “We made a extremely massive level all through the season of getting her be on the skin wanting in, which is precisely how Alice who was in that e-book.”

Now, the present has been renewed for a 3rd season — however Lewis Carroll didn’t write a 3rd “Alice in Wonderland” e-book. Nonetheless, the books will play a job, albeit completely different, within the subsequent season.

“They’re clearly an important a part of the household,” Alexandra says. “I feel the factor we’re going to form of try to do that season is wanting on the two books as an entire as a set and what to kind of glean from the 2 of them and who owns them. And the themes of them will nonetheless be an enormous a part of our present.”

The planning for Season 3 has already begun; in actual fact, they began brainstorming simply in the future after they wrapped Season 2. The second season finale airs on Sunday and left each producers “breathless.” Heather says the finale will “reply questions and pressure inquiries to be requested,” and notes that everybody on set was sobbing!

In the meantime, behind the scenes, the writers acquired to on Season 3 with out a break, pondering of easy methods to execute the concepts they’ve had for years.

“Even once we have been growing out Season 1, Season 3 was kind of the sunshine on the finish of the tunnel,” says Alexandra. “So even again then, we form of knew what this season would seem like. Now it’s only a matter of… truly sitting down and attending to the nitty-gritty of that. It’s a enjoyable problem.”

One other problem lies within the quantity of various characters and timelines contained in the drama. Whereas there’s no end-point in sight — the mom and daughter agree they’ll proceed doing the present till it’s not being completed effectively — they admit it’s lots of story to maintain straight.

“It’s a sophisticated present,” Alexandra says. “I’m so grateful we’re doing it collectively as mom and daughter but in addition as co-showrunners. It’s a present that wants two individuals. It in all probability, arguably, wants three or 4 or 5. Each season is — particularly this final season — three exhibits in a single: a present within the 1800s, one within the early 2000s and a present within the current day, all three with separate casts, separate wardrobe, separate every little thing. We wish to maintain doing that proper, and we don’t wish to ever get lazy… We’ve all fallen down this rabbit gap and I’m not able to I’m not prepared to return again up.”

With so many alternative characters and timelines, they’ve additionally “talked about spinoffs,” lots of which they name “ridiculous.”

“One of many issues about our present that’s distinctive, due to the time journey side of it’s, once more, similar to ‘Wonderland’ itself, is you’re there for time, not a very long time, and each journey is exclusive,” Alexandra provides. “Each journey, one thing’s completely different and in our world, you possibly can’t linger in a single timeline too lengthy. So there’s all the time going to be one thing new and one thing completely different. And whereas clearly, our current day will all the time be our fixed, the journeys that Alice takes, the journeys that Kat takes, they’re all the time going to be to completely different wonderlands and completely different worlds for very completely different causes.”

The Season 2 finale of “The Method Residence” airs on Sunday, March 31, at 9 p.m.