As Sweet Magnolias Season 5 comes to Netflix, it’s a turning point for Kyle Townsend. Fans have watched Kyle navigate plenty of challenges over the last four seasons—as Serenity always has its surprises—but all of that growth and life experience seems to come good in Season 5. So who is Kyle now?

Actor Logan Allen joined TVBrittanyF.com to reflect on how far Kyle has come since the beginning of Sweet Magnolias. He also spoke about how much he’s changed with the character, and what it’s been like for him to be directed by his co-stars, as Brooke Elliott makes her directorial debut this season. Plus, find out what else he’s excited about creatively!

Brittany Frederick: Audiences have watched Kyle grow up over the run of Sweet Magnolias. How does he continue to move forward in Season 5?

Logan Allen: I think that Season 1-4 is him trying to discover himself, him going through all these trials and tribulations. In Season 4, you see him finally being like okay, I think I can actually start to maybe take a step forward and into that leadership role. One thing about Kyle is—and I could actually relate with him in this way—is he’s someone who wants to give people love and help people so, so much, but he’s not focusing on himself, and you obviously can’t give love if you don’t have a foundation to give that off of. He didn’t work on himself in the first three seasons; you really see him struggle with that and struggle with his identity as a young man. And Season 4, you start to see him get used to that a little bit.

In Season 5, you start to really see him get comfortable with himself and try to impact other people. It doesn’t go his way all the time. It’s Sweet Magnolias, you’re in Serenity, it’s not very serene. [Laughs.] Stuff never goes the way that you plan it. But I think he is comfortable with himself, and that leads to a lot of really interesting storylines, a lot of really interesting situations, and choices that he has to make.

Now that you’ve played the character for so many years, has your perspective on Kyle changed? Have you found new or different things to appreciate about him as you’ve gone along?

Yes, because I grew up with the character. Everything that [he’s] going through in Season 3, for example, I lived out previously when I was doing Season 2. I’m one step ahead of the character, and so everything that Kyle’s going through I’ve already gone through, and so [there’s an] appreciation that I’ve gained with every single season because I’m seeing him go through all the things that I went through.

It’s just also what I’m able to bring to the character. The writers give me a lot of really good stuff to play with, but I feel like also I’ve been able to apply different aspects of my life into the character, and I think that you see that evolution, and it’s very congruent with my life.

One of the neat things about Sweet Magnolias is that the actors are also directors. Your TV mom JoAnna Garcia Swisher directs multiple episodes in Season 5, and Brooke Elliott is making her directorial debut this season. How fun is it to be directed not only by fellow actors, but by actors whom you know so well?

The actor and director relationship is so, so important, especially on a show where you know the character so well… When you’re five seasons into a show, the set has a flow. Everyone’s been working on the show for seven years now. There’s a rhythm to everything. And so what’s great about directors coming in that have been on the show since the beginning of it, they understand the set, they understand everybody involved with it, and it’s incredible.

Trusting your director is very, very important, and that’s something that I have fully with Joanna and for Brooke, and so it was great. To be able to have a director that understands how to communicate with the actors, I think is amazing. The way that our brains work as actors is very different than a lot of people when it comes to how we approach scenes and approach characters, and only actor-directors, I think, can really understand that, and that’s something that those two do very, very well. And so I felt very comfortable.

I feel like some of my best performances this season came from both of their episodes that they did. It was truly an incredible experience, and every time they get to direct, it’s so much fun.

Speaking of hyphenates, you have interests outside of acting as well, so did you learn anything from JoAnna and Brooke in that respect, that you might carry forward into your future projects?

One hundred percent, and that comes down to how open everyone is. Not only them, but all the directors that we’ve had—just sitting there and having 20-30 minute conversations when I know they have other stuff they’ve got to do. Them sitting with me and actually listening and answering, asking questions back, and being very open has been great, and I’ve learned so much. more than than any kind of school could teach you. Just being on set and getting the firsthand experience from those two was incredible, and it really comes down to how open they were with me, which meant the absolute world.

Can you share anything about what other ideas you have, or what else is interesting you creatively outside of the show?

I’ve been working on my own little feature that I’ve been writing… When you’re a creative mind, you have to constantly be creating. You can’t just sit there and not do anything. When you’re not working, you have to fill that creative void with something. And that’s something that I’ve actually learned the past couple of years, because I would get done filming, and I was like, why do I just feel bland? I’d feel empty in some way, because there’s nothing to fill that creative void, and so I started to really take that on my shoulders.

I’m also creating a documentary—very early on in that—but there’s a story that I really want to tell from my hometown. The family came to me, they want me to tell the story, so that’s what I’m going to do. I’ve got my YouTube channel that I run, but right now I’m just really zoning in on that feature and the documentary.

I spoke at a few film festivals recently, and it just kind of provided a spark, seeing how people can create something incredible from nothing, or not a big budget. Look what’s happening right now with Obsession and Backrooms, and everything going on in the industry with these indie films that are just blowing everything out of the water. It’s incredible, and I just want to create.

Sweet Magnolias Season 5 premieres June 11, 2026 on Netflix. Photo Credit: Series image courtesy of Netflix; headshot by Beverly Brosius/Courtesy of East 2 West Collective.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.