Jonathan Stoddard Teases Season 2 Twists & Possible Romance

Jonathan Stoddard looked forward to stepping back into Crossroad Springs as the Great American Media series returns for Season 2. The actor who plays the God-fearing Pastor James Hamilton returned home to Red Oak Ranch after serving a parish in Chicago. In addition to helping with the land he also leaned in on his faith and opened the Cowboy Church. James and his father Willis (Shaun Johnston) weren’t exactly on the same page at the start of the series. However, the patriarch found an understanding and appreciation for James’ chosen path. 

Also, working to keep the business afloat are his sisterJanet (Emily Alatalo) and Aunt Amy (Kate Drummond). The family have faced competition and generational tension with the Newmans neighboring farm. Adding more fuel to the fire comes when Jackson Newman, (Jefferson Brown) the uncle of Daniel (Jesse Hutch), takes a more vested interest. There was suspicion that the Newmans used their influence to stop an expansion permit from going through for the Hamiltons.  

Here Stoddard teases what’s next including if James finds a romantic future with his high school sweetheart Maggie (Brittany Underwood). 

Jonathan Stoddard and Shaun Johnston (Great American Media)

How is it for you to see the show resonate the way it has? 

Jonathan Stoddard: I think one of the coolest things about Season 1 in general was that it tugged on the heartstrings. I think it was just human. And in a world of AI and distractions and fantastic cinema, which, don’t get me wrong, there’s a time and a place for everything. There’s also I think an innate craving for just human to human interaction, contact, and honestly, understanding. What does it mean to be a normal person? I think something really powerful about Season 1 is that it really captured that, really explored just what it was like to be a father, to be a son, to be a sister, to be in a small town. and to be like everybody else. And I think that’s why it did so well.

Going into Season 2, Pastor James continues to find his footing and build new roots back at home. How do you look back at his journey so far and how that plays out? 

So Season 1 was really wonderful and packaged so beautifully. It was about responsibility and calling, life calling versus family responsibility, and how James, my character, blended the two, where he found his footing. Season 2, I feel like we step into broader strokes. Now he has got the momentum. Now it’s about interacting with the community. Now it’s about hearing people out, issues that they may have. It’s taking care of the ranch, and it’s also exploring his love life.

There is a little will they, won’t they that is brewing between James and Maggie. What can you say about their relationship?

I can’t say too much, but there is a lot that happens, and from my understanding as to the rollout of what they’re going to be doing for Season 2, the biggest thing that I think everybody should look forward to regarding this happens in Episode 4. I think it’s just going to throw the audience for a loop in a really fantastic kind of way, and I’m really excited to see it play out myself.

What did you make of the dynamic? They have this past history, but things change after one comes back to town after so much time has gone by. 

I think it’s going to be interesting. I think the audience is going to be watching it and saying, “Okay, cool, yeah, I see this, I get what they’re trying to do.” And then Episode 4 happens, and then they’re going to say. “Oh, I have no idea. I had no idea.” I think that’s one of the coolest things about what’s going to happen in Season two. There are a few I had no idea moments that are going to totally catch the audience off guard.

What can we expect from James in terms of building the Cowboy Church? 

I think it’s a great source of pride and identity for James, not only to help run the Cowboy Church, set that up and be a pillar in the community, but to also participate in people’s lives. To be able to extend beyond the walls of the church. I think that’s a really powerful part of. what makes him feel valuable. And so in Season 2, we see a lot more of that interaction.

Willis has started to understand James a little more. What do you make of their relationship? 

So this season is a little bit different because they’ve done a lot of the growth and the healing in Season 1. So in Season 2, we still have my father, played by Shaun Johnston, who’s incredible. He ends up still doing a lot of things on the ranch in terms of putting the cart before the horse. So he does that quite a bit, and James ends up needing to run to catch up, maybe put out a fire here and there as his dad is lighting them on the way. So, we end up seeing a lot of this dynamic throughout Season 2, and it creates some fun drama. It puts him in peculiar situations, but you still see a lot of the family dynamic, the father-son relationship that we built and established in Season 1.

How is it sharing the screen and getting to know Shaun, who has been so beloved on Heartland?

He’s incredible. Frequently, every day when we got back from set, we would hang out. We would chat for a little bit and just kind of catch up on the day, what’s happening with the show, where we’re going, the writing, all of it. And he is just such a light. He is so seasoned and such a veteran. It really is such an honor to be able to work with him. And every day that I see that he’s going to be on schedule, I get excited.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 06: (L-R) Brittany Underwood and Jonathan Stoddard attend the 33rd annual Movieguide Awards Gala at AVALON Hollywood on February 06, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)

How is it for you to be in a series like this where you’re getting to kind of really dig into a character? 

I love it. I love it. TV shows versus movies are really interesting because you get these ebbs and flows, these peaks and valleys, in terms of the amount of time that it takes to reveal something. Within a movie, you have 90 and more minutes to tell the audience everything they need to know. But in a series like this, where you have 10 episodes, now 20 episodes, throughout Season 2. You have time to massage stuff, to create confusion, to misdirect. It’s a really interesting thing to be able to sink my teeth into, and I’m happy that James is the character to be able to do it for me.

You also have gotten to play a young John Abbott on The Young and the Restless. Would you want to do soaps again? 

Yeah, I think soaps are phenomenal. It’s where I got started in television. There is something so special. It is such a well-oiled machine. There is such a history, a craft, and a legendary feel. Just everything around soap operas. So yeah, one hundred percent. I have a lot of friends in the soap world. There’s going to be a time and a place where I come back, and I revisit it.

What did you take from that experience? 

That was such an early stage in my acting career. I remember I couldn’t eat for two days. When I first booked the job, it was under five lines. And I was so nervous, and I was trying to call anybody and everybody that might know somebody who was in a soap so I could understand what to expect. My head was reeling, and my heart was racing, and it was a wild experience. I got on set, and then once I got the call back that they wanted to keep bringing me back. It’s hard to express the honor and this overwhelming joy that I received just from playing such a powerful and iconic character. I mean, characters that I grew up watching. I remember sitting with my sister watching Young and the Restless when we were kids on a big, deep box TV. Now we have flat screens and all this kind of stuff. This brought back stuff from my childhood memory, and now to be a part, a part of that history, a part of that legacy. I still have the booking from, literally from my agent. He printed it out and framed it. I have that on my wall. I’m looking at it. It is still such a powerful and special moment in my life, and it marks the start of a beautiful journey.

The holidays are fast approaching. How is it also to be now part of this Christmas movie cinematic universe?

It’s really interesting. I had no idea when I first started doing Christmas movies. Who doesn’t like Christmas? But then it became really interesting when I started hearing the stories of how it was impacting people’s lives. And then it went from, “Oh, cool, I’m just doing a Christmas movie,” to now, I’m actually making a difference in somebody’s year. I have movies that people are watching over and over and over again. I have people that’ll stop me on a plane and say, “Hey, my dad has Alzheimer’s and he loves this movie of yours. Thank you for bringing him back to me for those two hours every time. I’ve watched your movie a million times, and it’s because for him, he comes to life when he sees it. It’s not just a movie. It’s a holiday. It’s an experience. It’s a feeling. And so that has transported me from this mindset of, “Oh, I’m just going, and I’m doing something fun. I’m acting and that’s great.” Now I get to be a part of somebody’s tradition, and they’re welcoming me into their house. So now it’s become a really beautiful thing for me that I look forward to every year.

What are you excited about with your slate of movies this year? 

We have another Prince Christmas movie, which I do every year. And it’s kind of become its own thing. This franchise we create every single year, and it’s really fun. So this year we have one of those coming out. Then we shot a movie earlier this year that Great American Family is going to be releasing. That’s A Ozark Mountain Christmas. We filmed that in Branson, Missouri at Silver Dollar City, which was quite honestly one of the most spectacular places in the world. I had no idea Christmas could be like this. So, I’m really excited to see how it shows up on the screen. 

What else can you tease about the next season of Crossroad Springs on the Hamiltons and Newmans front?

So what’s fun about the whole Newman versus Hamilton thing is Jesse’s character is caught in the middle. Before, he was the target, right? We kind of had this rivalry, and it was there. And now, all of a sudden, with Jackson in town — but it’s not just Jackson. It’s Jackson’s family dynamic, so his wife and his daughter. You have these really fun personalities that are adding in so much spice to Crossroads Springs and to the dynamic between all of us. If there’s tension, we now have levity. We have darkness, and now we have brightness from the wife and the daughter. I think it’s going to create some really entertaining, comical, and great content for the audience. I’m excited for them to see it.

Crossroad Springs Season 2 premiere, September 3, Great American Pure Flix ( September 5, 8/7c, Great American Family & GFAM+)