Carson Rowland took a step back in the latest season of Netflix’s hit romantic drama.
Carson Rowland’s Ty played a significantly reduced role in Sweet Magnolias Season 4, moving from a series regular to a recurring character who popped up only a handful of times.
Rowland’s TV teen had been a part of the romantic drama since the beginning, being the eldest son of JoAnna Garcia Swisher’s Maddie Townsend (one member of the show’s titular group of gal pals, the Sweet Magnolias).
Ty had seen some crucial story beats flow through him over the series’ first three seasons, including the drama surrounding his high school baseball career, his ongoing romantic pursuits, and the ups and downs of being a child of divorce.
Where Was Ty in Sweet Magnolias Season 4?
Sweet Magnolias
Sweet Magnolias character Ty (played by Carson Rowland) was not nearly as big a part of the show’s latest season as fans had expected, and there is a big reason why.
Rowland was a series regular on the Netflix show from Seasons 1 to 3; however, with the release of Season 4, his camera time was notably curtailed compared to previous appearances.
In the series, there was no real reason for his reduced role. This was especially confusing for fans as Season 4 tackled some heavy story beats that directly affected Ty, including the death of his father, Bill.
While Ty was present for particular moments after his father’s death (like his funeral, (which was filmed in a real Georgia church), he felt secondary to some of the other characters he had once shared the spotlight with.
It turns out this reduced Season 4 role happened due to scheduling.
Series creator Sheryl J. Anderson let fans in on all the behind-the-scenes details surrounding Ty’s Season 4 role in a February 2025 interview with Deadline, telling the outlet that the change to Ty’s character involved “both” scheduled/availability as well as it being a “creative decision” on her part:
Q: “Was it scheduling/availability for actor Carson Rowland or was it a creative decision to have Ty disappear for most of the season because, unlike CeCe, who went to college, he chose to stay in Serenity?”
Anderson: “Both, but what we wanted to demonstrate is that he’s caught up in the dream of going on tour as a musician and hasn’t fully thought out what the effect of being away from everybody he loves will be. So we let him go off and have a great time with Olivia while everybody in Serenity is dealing with his absence.”
That is not to say Ty was taken entirely off the table, though, as his ongoing love story with Anneliese Judge’s Annie Sullivan was given focus in Season 4, including a culminating fight that may doom this fated romance forever.
“There is inherent tragedy in young love,” Anderson admitted, saying as teenagers, “we truly believe that love conquers all,” but as one grows up, they discover love “takes real work:”
“There is inherent tragedy in young love, because when we fall in love fully for the first time, we truly believe that love conquers all, but it is part of growing as individuals and growing as a couple to understand that a real relationship takes real work, so they have work ahead of them.”
As for what scheduling conflict Anderson may have been referring to, it is hard to tell precisely what project could have impeded Rowland from appearing in Sweet Magnolias Season 4 to the level he had before.
Season 4 production ran from February to May 2024 in and around Covington, Georgia (just southeast of Atlanta). The project Rowland was most likely occupied with at the time was the upcoming Katherine McNamara-led adventure film The Queen’s Jewels, filmed in Florida through much of 2024.
While production on these two projects may have never wholly overlapped, given the physical nature of the treasure-hunting blockbuster, Rowland may have been training for the film while Sweet Magnolias Season 4 was filming, prompting the schedules to clash a bit.
Perhaps if Sweet Magnolias gets a Season 5, Ty will return to his status as a series regular after taking a step back in Season 4.
