‘Sweet Magnolias’ season 4. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Sweet Magnolias season 4.

Love, death, the changing of the seasons — it’s all par for the course on Netflix’s Sweet Magnolias, which just wrapped up its fourth installment.

Centered around a trio of friends — Maddie (JoAnna Garcia Swisher), Dana Sue (Brooke Elliott), and Helen (Heather Headley) — in the fictional town of Serenity, S.C., the series adapts Sherryl Woods’ beloved book series to cozy effect, with each season delivering the streaming equivalent of a cup of hot cocoa (or, rather, sweet tea).

Season 4, which began with an unexpected time jump, ended with a handful of budding romances and far-flung locales calling out to several of the central characters. There’s plenty left to mine in future seasons, but the season 4 finale, with its lack of white-knuckle cliffhangers, could potentially serve as the series’ swan song.

Will there be a season 5 of Sweet Magnolias? Here’s everything we know.

Will there be a season 5 of Sweet Magnolias?

Brooke Elliott as Dana Sue Sullivan, Heather Headley as Helen Decatur and JoAnna Garcia Swisher as Maddie Townsend in ‘Sweet Magnolias’ season 4.Courtesy of Netflix

As of this writing, Sweet Magnolias has not received a season 5 renewal from Netflix. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, though.

Speaking with Tudum following season 4’s premiere, showrunner Sheryl J. Anderson said she “deeply, deeply hope[s] that we get a season 5,” citing the many storylines she hopes to explore further, like how the characters will carry on after Maddie’s new job takes her to New York City.

She continued, “…the reason we even raised the question here at the end of season 4 was because we feel so many women are confronted with, ‘Am I allowed to put myself first this one time?’ And how complicated it is for somebody like Maddie, with a new marriage, with kids still in the house, with dear, dear friends that you have seen every day your entire life. She’s so deeply woven into the community. Does that mean she has to say no to a dream?”

Headley, who plays Helen, told Parade that “everybody’s gonna think [that season 4 is the final season]… They’re gonna be like, ‘Well, is this it or not?’… and I think sometimes that’s the cliffhanger in itself. Is this it, or is there going to be another one?”

Heather Headley as Helen Decatur and Janet Hubert as Bev Decatur ‘Sweet Magnolias’ season 4.Courtesy Netflix

For her part, Headley thinks there’s plenty to explore in a potential season 5. “I think people are gonna wonder what the future holds… like what the future holds for Maddie. What happens with Dana Sue and definitely what is gonna go on with Helen, her love life and everything like that.”

She especially wants to see Helen’s wedding, which she said “better be the wedding of all weddings for Serenity.”

Season 4, after all, ended with Helen and Erik (Dion Johnstone) announcing their engagement. Headley, well aware of how much audiences shipped the pair, said their wedding is the one “everybody’s kind of been waiting for.”

She continued, “It’s been years in the making. And so I think it would be a beautiful celebration… and because it’s Helen, and she’s the one who likes the clothes and all that kind of stuff, it should be quite the wedding.”

But Headley is also prepared for the end, if that’s how things shake out. Season 4, she said, “could be” the end “if it needed to be.”

What happened in Sweet Magnolias season 4?

JoAnna Garcia Swisher as Maddie Townsend and Logan Allen as Kyle Townsend ‘Sweet Magnolias’ season 4.Courtesy of Netflix

The second-biggest surprise of season 4 was that it time-jumped one year after the events of season 3.

The biggest surprise, though? The sudden death of Bill (Chris Klein), Maddie’s ex-husband. “We were looking for a cataclysmic event that would shake up everybody’s lives,” Anderson told Entertainment Weekly.

Even in death, though, Bill’s presence loomed large. Since his children live in Serenity, it was his final wish to be buried there. His funeral brings forth new revelations, including that Isaac (Chris Medlin) is Bill’s illegitimate son and that he came to Serenity in search of his birth family. This complicates things for Noreen (Jamie Lynn Spears), Isaac’s roommate, as this means her daughter with Bill is technically Isaac’s sister. (Yes, we also needed to sit down.)

Chris Klein in ‘Sweet Magnolias’ season 3.Courtesy of Netflix

“The only reason Noreen is mad at [Isaac for not telling her] is because he could have told her,” Anderson explained to EW. “It’s about the notion that your best friend doesn’t trust your friendship enough to share with you completely. We wanted to have both of them work through that, and then she extends him love and grace, and he accepts it, and they mend their friendship, which we thought was a beautiful model. Not just for the ruptures that arise out of grief, but anytime you have a falling out with somebody that you love, that there’s always a road back.”

But, despite the specter of death, love blossomed in season 4, with (at long last) Helen and Erik getting engaged, a satisfying payoff to the longing looks they shared at the end of season 3. Noreen, meanwhile, is also feeling the love after Jeremy (Chase Anderson) invites her and her daughter to move in with him.

There was also the pairing of Maddie’s son Ty (Carson Rowland) and Dana Sue’s daughter Annie (Anneliese Judge), though their futures are taking them in different directions. At season’s end, she turns down his plea to accompany his band on tour to Europe so she can go to photography school in California.

‘Sweet Magnolias’ season 4.Courtesy of Netflix

Maddie, meanwhile, is also being called elsewhere. She’s been offered a publishing job in New York City, which would split up the Magnolias and take Maddie away from a place she loves.

Dana Sue, too, sees potential in a new career, albeit one closer to home. She and Ronnie (Brandon Quinn) end the season inching towards a new career opportunity that could take her away from Sullivan’s. “Between Dana Sue’s love for the foundation and all the success that she had had in Sullivan’s, she was in a position to try something different,” Anderson told Tudum. “It was about looking at ways that she could combine [her interests] and start thinking about a teaching kitchen. Women so often feel like, ‘Well, I’ve achieved this. Is it selfish to want more?’ We saw this as an organic extension of everything she’s good at.”

Anderson added, “Our overall season theme was ‘seize your passion.”

When would Sweet Magnolias season 5 premiere?

JoAnna Garcia Swisher as Maddie Townsend and Justin Bruening as Cal Maddox in ‘Sweet Magnolias’ season 4.Courtesy Netflix

If Netflix renews Sweet Magnolias for season 5, it likely won’t premiere until 2026 at the earliest.

For context, season 4 was announced in October 2023 and filmed between February and May 2024 before premiering in February 2025.

Where can I watch Sweet Magnolias?

Brooke Elliott as Dana Sue Sullivan and Brandon Quinn as Ronnie Sullivan in ‘Sweet Magnolias’ season 4.Courtesy of Netflix

All four seasons of Sweet Magnolias are available to stream on Netflix.